156 Posts by

Author: Grover

Our Tequila Collection – Update

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We haven’t done an update lately, so I thought I would take a few minutes today and size up the current inventory in our home collection.

(Left to Right) Tequila Lapis Anejo; mini-bottle Gusano Rojo Mezcal Joven w/worm; "Scarlet y Grover" mini-barrel - a gift from Tequilas de Senor distillery; Aha Toro Anejo; Don Julio Anejo; Pueblo Viejo Anjeo; Tequila Castelan Anejo; Tequila Esperanto Select Anejo; Centinella Anejo; Tequila Ocho Anejo; Tequila El Mayor; Tequila Castelan Reposado; La Cava de Mayoral blanco; Tequila Oro Azul; El Tequileño Reposado; Cazadores Anejo; Herradura Anejo; Gran Centenario Reserva del Tequilero; Partida Anejo; Dos Lunas Anejo; Gran Centenario Anejo; Pueblo Viejo Orgullo; Tequila Fortaleza; Heradura Seleccion Suprema; El Diamonte del Cielo; Gran Centenario Leyenda; Don Julio 1942; Maestro Tequila Anejo; Siete Leguas Anejo; Don Julio Real; Siete Leguas Reposado; Siete Leguas Blanco; Tres Manos Anejo; Tequila D'Antaño (Siete Leguas extra anejo); Casa Noble Blanco; Casa Noble Anejo; TKO blanco; a bottle of partially consumed JR Storey wine; Tequila Stallion anejo. Not shown (because the bottle is too damn tall) Clase Azul anjeo.

Don’t get confused with my use of the word “collection,” because all of these bottles are here for only one reason – to drink. No matter how pretty the bottle is, it goes in the recycle bin when it’s empty.

Our bar currently contains 37 bottles of tequila, 1 mini barrel of tequila we received as a gift, 1 mini bottle of mezcal, and 1 bottle of wine (all visible in the picture.) Not shown, because they are stored below, are 12 other bottles of tequila (including a bottle of El Tesoro de Don Felipe), mostly backup bottles to ensure that we don’t unexpectedly run out.

:-)

So that’s 49 bottles of tequila, total. Hmmm. I’d like to make that an even 50. What are we missing?

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A Tequila Smackdown!

  • 2 minute read

Maybe we’re been watching too much the Food Network lately, but on a recent island vacation a “Tequila Smackdown” sounded like a great idea. So, we assembled a bunch of…

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Pueblo Viejo – just what the recession ordered

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Scarlet and I were sitting at Casa Fuerte, a restaurant in Tlaquepaque, Mexico, scanning through the tequila menu. I spotted something that I never heard of – Pueblo Viejo. Usually this excites us, because we love trying new tequila.

Pueblo Viejo Añejo

I looked at the price and my excitement faded. It was too cheap. I was certain that this couldn’t be very good because it wasn’t expensive enough, since I tend to shy away from any shot that doesn’t set me back at least $15, and this one was about 60 pesos (under $6).

I ordered it anyway, Pueblo Viejo Añejo, with sangrita.

Scarlet ordered a Tamarind Margarita, a drink that is unique to this restaurant.

When our drinks came to the table, the shot of Pueblo Viejo looked really good. It had a nice golden color, and it smelled like a beautiful blend of agave and vanilla. It had some crazy legs and my excitement was restored.

I tasted it. Warm, rich, and very, very smooth. A nice agave warmth in the back of my mouth lingered pleasantly for a bit, and then faded out gracefully, inviting me to taste again.

In short, I really liked it, and I was certain that Scarlet would too. I handed the glass to her, and she agreed. We were both pleasantly surprised.

I wasn’t the only happy drinker at the table, though. Scarlet was really enjoying her Tamarind Margarita. Sweet, a little spicy, but yet not overly-sweet. Definitely something she would order again (and she did.)

For the rest of our stay in Mexico, I was on the lookout for Pueblo Viejo Añejo, and was able to find it in a few places. Each time I would order it, almost as if I was still in disbelief.

We found ourselves in a cool bar in Guadalajara (we’re going to write about this place later) and I spotted it behind the bar. I ordered it just so I could watch the bartender pour it from the bottle so I could verify that it wasn’t just a fluke – and it was the same nice tequila, for the same cheap price.

I’ve been recommending it to all of my tequila-loving friends here in the US. I was unable to find it at BevMo, so I ended up buying it online for $30 at TheCellarOnline.com.

We’ve been drinking it at home ever since. Good tequila that doesn’t break the bank — recession tequila!

Casa Fuerte is at Calle Independencia 224, Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Pueblo Viejo Anejo is produced by Casa San Matias.

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Our ever-growing collection of tequila

  • 2 minute read

I was in my image archive today, looking for something totally unrelated to tequila when I spotted a picture of our tequila collection taken in July 2008, right after we moved into our current apartment.

I didn’t actually realize how different it looks today – and how much money we must be spending on this stuff. Our collection is constantly growing, and when we get down to the bottom of a bottle, we tend to hold off on drinking any more of it because we don’t want to be “out” of anything.

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Our first trip to Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico

  • 1 minute read

Our plane touched down at the Guadalajara airport in January, 2008. After a few days of fun in a hectic Mexico City, we were ready to wind down and, hopefully, tour some tequila distilleries and listen to a whole lot of mariachi music. Happily, we did both.

I was in non-stop picture-taking mode, and went especially crazy while we toured the tequila distilleries.

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San Francisco’s secret tequila stash

  • 3 minute read

Just a few days after we moved into our new apartment in San Francisco’s Mission District, we took one of our leisurely strolls. The entire area was new to us, so vigorous exploring needed to be done.

This particular walk took us to the “other” side of Mission Street, a part of the neighborhood we don’t often visit. We were in search of a bar that had both tequila and food, but didn’t really find one.

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Hit me with your best shot

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As my credit card company can tell you, I am no stranger to buying high-priced shots in restaurants, but sometimes the bill creeps up and surprises me.

The first time this happened was in a Mexican food restaurant in Pleasanton, California. My friend Brad (another photographer) and I used to frequent a place called “Alberto’s Cantina.” It’s a restaurant with typical Mexican food – not necessarily authentic, but in the U.S., what is?

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My first trip, my old friend

  • 2 minute read

I wasn’t always an obnoxious tequila snob. Nope. In my earlier days, I was a beer-drinking, hot-dog-eating, 8-track-tape-owning “guy behind the camera” photojournalist. I worked as a staff photographer for newspapers in Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, New York, and Minnesota.

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“You did not just slam that entire shot, did you?”

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When I was 31 years-old, I had my first-ever taste of an avocado. It was on the same day I first ate sushi. Today, these are some of my favorite things in life. It took a while, but I finally caught on.

Somewhere in my 39th year, sitting in the back of Tommy’s Mexican Restuarant in San Francisco, I had my first real tequila experience. Scarlet just moved into town, and a group of friends walked to the famed San Francisco tequila destination, just around the corner from her apartment.

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