You may have read about our love of sangrita before, so we are happy to announce that we’ve found a new bottled sangrita available here in the States. I know what you’re thinking: “uh oh, bottled sangrita.” Believe me, normally I’m with you on this one. I too like a tasty, homemade batch of sangrita sitting in the fridge, but this is not always possible. And like you, I have also seen the day-glo pink bottles of Vuida de Sanchez sangrita, which are frightening enough to make you forget about the idea of a tequila chaser all together.

But I must say, this new bottled sangrita is pretty good. It’s called Dos Banderas, and it is made and distributed in Indiana. Unlike Viuda de Sanchez, it’s a nice, deep, red indicating tomato juice instead of grenadine, and you can see a little pulp from the natural orange and lime juices. The flavor is a balance of tomato and orange and the consistency is neither thick nor watery, more like juice.

As we’ve mentioned before, Grover and I prefer “chunky” sangrita with a spicy kick. Dos Banderas isn’t in this vein, but the makers encourage you to add a little black pepper and Tabasco if you like it spicy. We did, and it gave it an extra edge.

While my sangrita high-bar will always be the homemade version made at the San Angel Inn in Mexico City (chunky, fresh and delicious), Dos Banderas is a nice tequila accompaniment to have on hand. It’s not distributed in retail stores outside of Indiana (yet) but you can buy it online at www.enjoydosbanderas.com

Now we are curious to see how the owners—Indiana natives—will go about educating American drinkers on the virtues of sangrita. We wish them luck, and give them a “salud!” for their efforts.

-Scarlet

It’s a Sunday night, and Grover and I were craving a nice tequila after dinner. We decided to head to a Mexican place in our neighborhood that is virtually impenetrable on a Friday or Saturday night, but just might have two free stools on the Day of Rest. Turns out, it did.

We quickly scanned the bar and found two tequila brands we had never tried before – Comisario and Don Ramón. I’ve seen Comisario popping up on retail shelves lately, but had never tried it. Don Ramón was completely new to me; its beautifully etched bottle is replete with a diamond stopper that calls out “Drink me.” The bottle is so finely made it appears as though a genie might pop out, offering me three tequila wishes. I digress…

Grover ordered the Comisario Añejo and the nose was not very fragrant. It had a soft, caramel and buttercream odor. Once in the mouth, however, it was a train wreck of pungent flavors that ends with a long, peppery finish. (According to its website, Comisario contains papaya, caramel custard, nougat, grilled pepper, mineral and mocha flavors). I was not a fan.

Fortunately, the bartender (whose name will go unmentioned, to protect his generosity) offered us a taste of the Don Ramón Añejo, which had just arrived in the establishment that day. The diamond stopper was tricky to get out, and Grover had to use a corkscrew to extract the plastic piece that was blocking us from the sweet agave. Fortunately, he managed to dislodge the plastic without injury and the bartender poured two generous shots, and one for him.

Don Ramón Añejo has a soft, sweet nose reminiscent of the natural honey flavor of the agave, with a spicy finish that retains the agave flavor and does not pick up too much from the barrel. It is balanced and a little more pungent than most añejos. Overall, we declared it a success—Grover said he would buy a bottle for home.

It seems that Sundays are a nice, relaxed day to sample some new tequilas. So, what are you drinking tonight?

-Scarlet

You may have seen our review of Tres Manos Añejo a while back, where we mention that it is “triple distilled.” The tag on the bottle boasted about triple distillation in bold print, three times. When I picked out the bottle at BevMo, I admit I had no idea what triple distillation really meant – it seemed like a good thing. But recently, I found out that it’s not necessarily true.

When we were in Mexico last month, going on distillery tours, our tequila consultant mentioned that triple distillation is only necessary if the first two distillations don’t render a crystal clear product. Under a normal process, the crushed, fermented agave goes through a first distillation that produces a cloudy liquid called “ordinario.” Ordinario isn’t considered tequila yet. The first distillation is done to remove solid particles, yeast, proteins and minerals and does not produce a high enough alcohol level for it to be called tequila. When you see ordinario, you see why you wouldn’t want to drink it – it’s pungent and cloudy.

Tequila is normally produced after the second distillation when the alcohol level is increased to around 80 proof and the last traces of particles are stripped away, leaving a very clean agave flavor. Tequila produced after the second distillation is bottled and sold as blanco.

So, as it happens, triple distillation isn’t necessary, unless your first two tries don’t render quality product that’s ready to labeled tequila blanco. Lesson learned.