Author: Scarlet

Previously we mentioned discovering Pueblo Viejo Añejo in Mexico and being pleasantly surprised by both the taste and price. During a trip to BevMo in San Francisco, we saw that the San Matias Distillery produced another aged tequila called “Pueblo Viejo Orgullo,” so we had to try it.

Orgullo (which means “pride” in Spanish) is a rich amber color with medium viscosity. It has a vanilla and slightly floral aroma. Upon sipping, it has a soft touch on the tongue and fades to a little bit of spice in the front of the mouth as opposed to the back.

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.

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.