http://tastetequila.com It's hip to sip. Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:28:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en About a month ago, liquor stores in Guadalajara started prominently displaying a new innovation in tequila presentations – tequila in a can! Actually, a half can, like the new mini Cokes. Of course, we’ve already seen mixed drinks such as palomas in a (full-sized) can, but we’ve never seen straight 100% agave tequila artfully siphoned into an aluminum receptacle with a pop top for our drinking enjoyment. But this is just what the brand La Gavilana did, offering up its canned reposado for about $5 bucks. Needless to say, we had to give it a try. I’ll be honest – I had my hesitations. Tinny tequila did not sound appetizing. However, the company’s website assured me that a can was the perfect presentation for this tequila because it was easy to chill, easy to transport and recyclable. It also said that this repo is aged 6 to 8 months in American Oak, and is not only double distilled, but filtered! Despite these assurances, I felt that my evaluation would be tainted by the can factor so I asked my brother Matt Pruitt, who is a member of the punk rock band The Have Nots, to help me assess it. Perhaps it wouldn’t meet my standards, but what about the standards of a touring, hard drinking, hard partying punk who can’t afford to spend $60 (or $30) on a nice bottle of tequila. At 5 shots for $5, maybe it would suffice. Continue reading, see us taste it for the first time... ]]> http://tastetequila.com/?p=1535 A couple weeks ago we went back to the States and discovered that the tequila fairies had sent us the full line of Tequila Semental. They came in attractive bottles that feature a picture window of a fierce bull, suggesting that the tequila might be “fuerte,” with strong or astringent characteristics. Then we read that the tequila is triple distilled so we scrapped the thought—a third distillation typically smooths the tequila significantly. Apparently, "Semental" refers to bulls that are considered the strongest and bravest of their kind, and so are used for mating. Or, they are bulls considered so brave and skilled in the bullring that they are spared from death. Would this tequila prove to live up to its bold name? We sat down with our friend Mark Alberto Holt and did some sampling. Continue reading... ]]> http://tastetequila.com/?p=1521

When we heard that winemaking behemoth E. & J. Gallo was getting into the tequila business, our interest was peaked. How would Gallo -- best known for its omnipresent, lower-priced tipples approach the over-crowded tequila market? Well, they started on the right foot when they aligned themselves with the Camarena family, which has been making tequila in the highlands of Jalisco for six generations. This gave their brand clout, and they took it one step further by naming their tequila Familia Camarena. Continue reading... ]]> http://tastetequila.com/?p=1507
Imagine what it would be like to give a tequila presentation to two Presidents and a Prime Minister, all of who are eager to find out about the history, culture and nuances of tequila. Sounds pretty nerve racking, right? Well, this is exactly the situation tequila expert Miguel Cedeño faced earlier this year when he hosted U.S. President Barack Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a tequila tasting and primer. However, Cedeño, being a well-recognized tequila expert, author, teacher, master distiller and scientist, managed to pull it off with apparent ease. We sat down with Cedeño recently to talk to him about the experience and how he answered President Obama’s questions: “What’s your favorite tequila?” Continue reading, see the video interview... ]]> http://tastetequila.com/?p=1500 David Yan, Marketing Director for Casa Noble tequila in Mexico, at his house in Guadalajara. Part of David’s job is to bring guests to the Casa Noble distillery, conduct tastings and delve into the fine points of how to really taste and enjoy tequila. When it comes to tequila tastings, David really knows his stuff. During our visit, David showed us how to warm up our mouths for tastings. Yes! You need to warm up so don’t sprain anything. Okay, it’s actually to activate your taste sensors. (See the video on how to warm up your mouth.) Once we were done with the warm up, he tapped into his collection of treasure bottles and let us sample a 11-12 year old Casa Noble Crystal, second release. This is Casa Noble blanco from another era entirely, and given how much I enjoy their current blanco I couldn’t wait to try it. Continue reading/see the video...
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