Does tequila make a great holiday gift? Hell yes! With so many to choose from, how can you be sure you’re getting the right one for the right person?
We get emails, instant messages, text messages and phone calls from our friends seeking tequila advice. Sometimes we get cell phone pictures of tequila menus and bars looking for guidance. We always do our best to answer.
The other day we received an email from Traci, a friend of ours who lives in New York City (who also appeared in our first “Tequila Smackdown” video.)
We thought we’d share her question, and our answer, just in case you were wondering which tequila to buy as a gift.
Hi Scarlet and Grover,
I am looking for recommendations on tequilas to give my booze-loving family for Christmas (you two are just that inspiring so no one gets Irish whisky this year). What are your suggestions for a mid and higher priced tequila.
Merry Merry and a ho ho ho to you both!
Traci
Traci,
Good question! We are hoping that many of our readers will go the tequila route when making holiday purchases this season so we hope you don’t mind if we make your email (and answer) public:
Since your family is mostly into whisky we are recommending that you stick with an añejo, based on the fact that they are used to tasting flavors from the barrel, rather than the agave-alcohol taste that some people prefer in the un-aged blancos.
So, in the $40-$60 range:
Pueblo Viejo Añejo – Excellent for the money. Smooth, even, and still retains the agave flavor.
Pueblo Añejo Orgullo – OMG this is so good, if you can find it. We get it at BevMo in California.
Gran Centenario Añejo – A crowd pleaser that is not too sweet or too pungent.
Dos Lunas Añejo – A little sweet but full of flavor and well rounded
Cazadores Añejo – Rich and full bodied; vanilla and caramel flavors.
Tres Generationes Añejo – Sweet with a lot of barrel but smooth and widely distributed.
In the $60-$100 range:
Casa Noble Añejo – sweet, almost like a dessert tequila but great for the holidays and after dinner. We’ve met some hardcore whiskey drinkers who love this one.
Don Julio 1942 ($99 in some locations, $109 in others) – This is the biggest crowd pleaser of them all. Smooth, rich, and perfectly balanced. Loved by just about any kind of drinker – you can’t go wrong with it. (Also, try to avoid the Don Julio Añejo – it is very different than the 1942. Totally different experience.)
Partida Añejo – Do your relatives like it rich and a little spicy? Then this is the tequila for you.
All of these tequilas are available in the United States. If we were in Mexico, we’d have a slightly different list for you.
:-)
Happy Holidays, Traci! To you and all our tequileños.
– Scarlet and Grover
Not one of mine, but let me recommend this deal I’ve seen at retail in CA:
CORRIDO EXTRA ANEJO 750 Gift-pack with 2 Riedel Tequila Glasses is on sale now in most CA stores for $99.99
From their site:
Corrido started out as a masterfully distilled Blanco Tequila which was then filled into a small lot of specially selected white oak barrels. For three years Corrido Extra waited patiently to mature. By late 2008 it was ready to break out of those barrels as an effulgent demonstration of ultra-premium Tequila and the meridian of artisan Tequila production. With an inviting nose filled with intricate spice (clove, nutmeg, cinnamon), browned butter, vanilla and oak– Corrido Extra calls to you. . .. The flavors follow suit with the spices subdued by sweet agave, lemony citrus and intricately supple oak simultaneously accomplishing a balanced, invigorating mouthfeel-taste-finish that outlines the many marvelously elegant qualities. This exceptional Extra-Añejo is meant to be sipped and relished. Regularly priced $149.99.