TasteTequila

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.

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.

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.

We were in BevMo the other day, picking up a tequila gift for some friends, when we spotted a brand we’d never seen before called Tres Manos. I was drawn to the bottle because it is dipped in black wax, and the liquor inside was darker than you normally see for añejos.

You know those nights when you’re sitting around, sipping fine tequila, and you start fantasizing about making your own special brand here in the United States? You start to wonder: Could I grow the agave here? Could I wait eight years for the plants to mature? How the hell would I ground and steam those massive piñas? Ninety-nine percent of us would discard the idea as a foolish fantasy, but that’s not what Jorg Rupf and Lance Winters at St. George Spirits did; these wily entrepreneurs actually made their own line of tequilas (except they can’t call them tequila.)