ALERT! This content is for extreme agave geeks only! You have been warned. The best way to learn is by doing, right? That’s the gist behind our “Lotecito” (small batch) destilado de agave project, which was born amid Covid quarantine but
Category: Tequila School
Tony Salles, Master Distiller at tequila El Tequileño, had a dilemma. His brand had recently achieved wider distribution outside of Mexico and into Canada, and some customers to the North were complaining that they could see solids in their bottles. He
Update: This project continues! You can follow our progress in the “Lotecito Log“. In this strange pandemic year asking adults what they did during quarantine has become as common as asking kids what they did during summer vacation. While most of
Why we decided to address the industry’s lack of transparency on additive use If this headline has given you pause, it should. After all, 100% agave tequila traditionally comprises of three things: cooked agave, water, and yeast (before aging). But increasingly,
Barrels aren’t new to the tequila industry, but carefully aging products in barrels may be. Back in the early 1800s tequila was transported around Guadalajara in small wooden barrels, according to writer and tequila historian Ted Genoways. Later in that century
Anyone who has visited Guadalajara recently was probably bombarded with billboards and bar menus touting the latest tequila trend: “Cristalinos”. These are aged tequilas that have been filtered to remove any color added by the barrel during the aging process, leaving
Put the words “tequila” and “smoky” together and most people think of mezcal. This is because most mezcal makers still use the artisanal process of cooking agaves in earthen pits, creating smoky aromas and flavors, as opposed to steam-powered autoclaves and
Tomorrow is “National Tequila Day”, which is pretty much every day in our house. But, in honor of this annual event, we thought it would be fun to dig into the Tequila Matchmaker database and pull out some statistics that will
The truth behind “the coming tequila shortage”, and the real risks the industry faces Here’s the good news on the “agave crisis”: We are reaching the peak. The bad news is we will likely experience a similar, or worse, situation in
Agave isn’t just another plant. This one is special. We never realized just how incredible it was until we attended a presentation by Dr. Ivan Saldaña Oyarzábal, earned a Ph.D. in Plant Biology/Biochemistry from the University of Sussex, in Great Britain,
Traditionally-made Tequilas Rise to the Top of the 2017 Spirits of Mexico Competition There are very few tequila festivals left in the U.S., which is a shame because they offer tequila lovers a great opportunity to try some of the new
Additives in tequila? I bet you’ve never thought about it. But whether you are for or against additives it’s useful to know how they are used, the rules that govern them, and how to sleuth them out. We asked Sergio Mendoza,
Tequila has changed a lot since the early days. Most producers have switched from time consuming, old-school methods to high-efficiency production. But has this trend helped or harmed the overall quality of tequila? We decided to find out in the most
What do Casamigos, Avión, and Clase Azul tequilas all have in common? All are made in the same distillery, located in a town called Jesús María in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico. This, and other interesting information about tequila
Extra Añejos — the most aged and expensive form of tequila — attracts all palates, from seasoned tequila drinkers to newbies who find their rich oak flavors reminiscent of other dark spirits. This is still a relatively new category for tequila.
“Innovation,” is a term capable of striking fear in the heart of a tequila fan. Although embraced in nearly all other aspects of modern life, when this word is applied to the production of tequila, it usually means that profit and
For years tequila geeks have been having a debate as polarizing as Coke vs. Pepsi: Which location produces better tequila, the “Highlands” or the “Lowlands” of Jalisco, Mexico? (By the way, we object to the term of “Lowlands” to describe the
Leopoldo Solis is the mastermind behind many well-respected tequilas. After our review of his most recent creation, Tequila Gran Dovejo, we were invited to meet Mr. Solis in person while he was traveling through Mexico City. Solis is a “Master Tequilero,”
Have you ever gone tequila tasting with someone who has a great nose? They swirl their glass around, hold it to the light to checkout the “legs” and the “tears”, and then dive in with both nostrils. They smell from the
It’s 11 a.m. on a Tuesday and I’m sitting in La Tequila, the largest tequila bar-restaurant in Guadalajara. The older gentleman sitting next to is holding a small glass vial to his nose and smelling deeply. He looks at me, shrugs, and hands me the vial. I know this one is going to be a tough one.
It’s Day One of a four-day hardcore seminar on tequila tasting and evaluation and almost everyone is having a hard time identifying the unmarked smells in the little glass vials. We have to identify what aroma group the smell comes from—floral, herbal, spice, fruit or other—and name the smell if we can. I take the vial the man has passed to me and take a deep whiff. It’s floral … no, it’s punchier than that. An herb? I write down “herbal” but I have no clue what kind. I move on to the next one.
For this website, I have tasted a lot of tequilas. I always try to be observant and descriptive as possible about the tequilas, but I realize I’m no expert. Tequila is complex. It has over 600 possible aroma and flavor components. Some, like vanilla and caramel, are easy to spot because they come from the barrel and are present in many aged tequilas. Others, like apples, gardenias and solvents, are more challenging. Is it baked apple or fresh apple? Is it thinner or is it gasoline? These are things that expert “catadores” (tequila tasters) can identify immediately.