Tequila!
 

Rather than hijack the "Shots!" thread, I have created a new (and some say better) thread in which to discuss Tequila.

Some like it chilled, some like it room temperature.
Some like Cuervo, others like Patron.
Afficianodos claim that tequila has as much character as a fine scotch.

Let's hear what you like and why.


And to get started, I want to quote some information from a very informative site located HERE:
http://www.sallys-place.com/beverages/spirits/tequila.htm

Tequila comes from a limited geographic area and has only 4 grades: white (or silver or plata), joven abocado, which is silver with color and/or flavor added; reposado, aged from two months to one year, in wood tanks (not steel); and anejo, aged at least one year in sealed oak barrels. The grade has nothing to do with quality.

Although there are 300 or so bottles on the market, there are only about 36 distilleries. Each bottle must be marked with the NOM (ID number) of the distillery, so you can figure out who makes what by comparing the numbers.

Jose Cuervo accounts for nearly half of all US tequila sales.

Tequila gave me the worst hangover of my life. then again 1/2 a fifth with a 6pack of beer will do that.

Personal favorite

prairie fire Ingredients:

* 1 oz Tequila
* 2 tsp Tabasco sauce

it is the devil's urine...

Finally an OT thread that has no possible way to devolve into the normal political he said she said cr@p!

Tequila is my drink of choice :D and I'll admit I'm a bit of a tequila snob.

Jose Cuervo is garbage, as are any "tequilas" that are not made from 100% agave. Cuervo uses food color to achieve its amber color and grain alchohol to boost its proof. This is one of the reasons it gives such a bad hangover.

Pure 100% agave tequila (no adatives) is a joy to drink. I'm sure most of the fine folks here know this but here is a breakdown of the various types of tequila available:

Blanco (silver) - bottled immediately after the distillation process, no barrel aging, sharp bite, sometimes peppery, strongest tequila flavor, great for margaritas or over the rocks.

Reposado - "rested" in oak from a few months to a year. Less bite than the blanco, some barrel flavors, also good in margaritas or over the rocks.

Anejo - aged for over a year in oak barrels, this imparts much more character to the tequila and smooths the tequila considerably. Drink this stuff like you would a 12yr old single malt, i.e. neat in a brandy snifter.

Favorite brands?

Chinaco - blanco, super smooth blanco, fantastic over the rocks.
El Tesoro de Don Felipe - their blanco is very earthy, just great.
Centenario 3 Años - Anejo, as good as any 18yr old single malt.

Oh man, its only noon here and I need a drink :D

Cuervo exports exclusively piss water to the US. I prefer Patron, but when I can get my hands on it, really like a nice glass of Don Eduardo.

casadores was introduced to us many howling moons ago in baja. i agree joe cuervo is crap tequila. tequila and clamato/tecate chasers! mmmmmmmmmmmmmm-mmmmm!

+1 with Spud :)

Although I do drink Patron as well.......

-Chris

Tequila is like sex. You should avoid the bad stuff at all costs. But the good stuff is very hard to beat.

These are two of my favourite bottles from the cellar. Magic.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161284631.jpg

For sipping I like Patron silver @ room temp.
Same for the Chinaco blanco
For margaritas the tequilla of choice is Casadores aka "Stinky deer" :D

<funnystory> for my 40th birthday my wife had a surprise party for me. She told everyone coming that if they wanted to bring a gift to bring a bottle of tequila, greatest birthday ever. We killed a "few" bottles that night, and I still had 35 bottles left. I can truely say I've had just about every tequila out there </funnystory>

<sadstory>I'm 41 now and all that tequila is long gone.</sadstory>

I once let it slip in college while in the company of the floor's gung-ho drinker (you know, the guy who has to make sure everyone else is getting s***-faced) that I had never drank to the point of being sick.

A bottle of Jose and dozens of Prairie Fires later...I was sick.

I threw up in my sleep...thankfully I was sleeping on my side.

I couldn't stand the smell of hot sauce for three years after that. Going into a Hooter's made me wretch.

To be honest, I have loved margaritas for a long time but absolutely hated tequila straight. While reading the article that I linked to, and reading spud's comment, I guess that Cuervo is to blame. I doubt that I have ever had a truly "top shelf" tequila.

I was very disappointed to read that Cuervo "gold" is the result of artificial coloring and has nothing to do with barrels. Also, to read that Cuervo is 51% agave and 49% "other" really bothered me.

I think I have a weekend project now.

cash, don't blame for if you start a new "expensive" drinking hobby :D

Great thread never knew about the many different type and ages. Thanks again Rennlist for another bad habit. although I'm a bourbon man, I think

teq is good stuff... my fave is chinaco and a don eduardo recommendation from another ppot thread worked out very well too
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=265019&highlight=chinac o

Still have a small bottle of Don in my cabinet. Its used for special times with friends...

Mmmmmmm. Margaritas.........

The drink of choice here in the Old Pueblo.

(I think it outsells sodas in many restaurants)

+1

But why wait for the weekend I am off to the liquor store now.

:D

Cabo Wabo!

Hm...I'll have to pay you a visit soon. :D

BTW going to the airshow this weekend?

too funny! thats what we were told years and years ago up at mikes sky rancho bar in the middle of BFE BAJA NORTE! the native mexicans dont even touch joe cuervo. joe es no bueno! casadores es muy bueno. senor muy loco cabeza tequila! VIVA LA REVOLUCION! VIVA CHE!

The tequila of choice for the last 20+ years has been "Bacanora" Made by local indians in the sonoran desert, it is both smooth and deadly. I have my uncle get me a gallon container every year when I go to visit.

hard to find , porfidio is very good.

I had some once called Cantera. I think. Was good. I think.

Current inventory....sorry...crappy pic :(
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161309824.jpg

ok guys stupid teguila question, but when I was in Cosumel a few years ago it looked like every bottle had a worm in it. Is this customary for all bottles or just certain types?

I thought only Mezcal has a worm in it...

Tequila is strange stuff... Steve and I went to a real fun party a few years ago. New Years, throw your keys in the bowl, a local cop takes the whole bowl away (no driving), plenty of drinking, a few shotguns, some illegal fireworks. You know. Good fun! :D

I had never done Tequila shooters. My so called friends showed me the real fun pattern of squeeze of lime, lick of salt, knock down the tequila (wait, is that the right order?). I'm not really much of a drinker. Evidently I made up for it that night...

We have a video tape of me shaking PEPPER on my hand (apparently couldn't find the salt) and licking that off followed by the tequila. It is rumored that I had at least a dozen shots. Woke up the next morning on the couch with a blanket wrapped around me - husband says "time to go honey." Stepped over the sleeping people littering the floor and head for the door.

Near the door I see a large potato chip bowl with womens underwear in it. I stopped for a quick check and was very relieved to find they were not mine. http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/shake.gif

No more tequila for me. angela

You folks knocking Cuervo (as I always have) haven't had the 'real deal'! I was having a beer at the bar in a Mexican restaraunt just a week or so ago, and noticed they had a pretty good selection of Tequila's on display. Among them...Don Julio (one of my favorites), Don Eduardo, Patron, Herradura, etc. (and they appeared to have all three types (blanco, reposado, and anejo) for most of the brands...they also had the typical stock of 'bottom shelf' Cuervos, 1800s, etc. I asked the bartender, "what's your best tequila, Don Julio?" and too my surprise, he reached up and pulled down a bottle of Cuervo (a special label that I did not recognize), and poured me a "complementary half-shot". Man, that was the BEST stuff I've ever tasted (and I've had a bunch of the 'good ones')...the bartender said it was available at the ABC (liquor) stores (around $100 a bottle), but I've never seen it (although I would probably have looked right past it...being Cuervo). Maybe we don't get the 'good stuff' in the states :)!

ps: I've bad mouthed Cuervo for many years....not anymore.

Tequila is Mezcal, based on my reading, but a very specific mezcal. Tequila is a mezcal made only from the blue agave plant in the region around Tequila, Jalisco, but spirits labeled simply "Mezcal" are often made using other agave plants and are from any region.

Tequila is prohibited by law from having "the worm". Only mezcal can have it.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal#The_worm

the bottle of mescal that has the orange worm doing the "keep on trucking" walk is the most vile wicked nasty horrendous mescal you could ever put in your mouth!

but if your looking for some REAL FUN IN TECHNICOLOR...........thats the stuff! eat that damn worm and bald men have grown HAIR!

nothing on this planet smells like that stuff. true version of hecho en mexico rocketo fuel-o!

and yes if your wondering if you will hallucinate! viva la revolucion!

about noon on race day is when the te-kill-ya takes over the locals reasoning!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1161351097.jpg 1st bikes coming thru valle de trinidad-baja norte(valle-t) heading for the goat trail of DOOM! and yes, honda XR's RULE BAJA!

all this mexico stuff is making me recall cheech's 'welcome speech' to the cantina in "from dusk till dawn" :D

http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/8...arin002kv9.jpg

Exactly. Like I said on page 1, "Cuervo exports exclusively piss water to the US."

I had to look it up on the Cuervo site, but what I had was their "Reserva". Their site states that the family only "shared it with
close friends" until 1995 when they began to export it to celebrate Cuervo's 200 anniversary. So, if you are an afficianado, try some of this Reserva...you won't be disappointed!

Somewhere Mexicans are laughing at us ;)

I guess I'm jaded because living in S.Cal back in the seventies Tequila was THE ultra cheap hard booze of choice. I have had some very nice aged tequila however I have a hard time believing it is worth the markup they are getting.

YMMV

Noooo, they're laughing WITH us! I personally wouldn't pay $100 for a bottle, but I have no problem spending $30-40 for Don Julio, etc. I only have a "chilled shot" occasionally and a bottle will last me a long time.

KC is on the money. my girlfriend went to mexico, and she asked me what i wanted her to bring back. i nixed donkey show videos and good dope off the list right off the bat. and screamed out "good tequila". she brought back this jose cuervo reserve stuff that is totally excellent. super smooth, and very tasty. i took one glass off the top, and promptly put it away for special occasions. my bottle of don julio got dropped to every day tequila quick. (which i picked up on my trip down south)

It takes about eight years for the agave to mature to a usable state, and when harvested the entire plant is removed from the ground, so its another eight or so years for the next one to be ready. Add that to the strict laws about where the agave has to be grown to be called "tequila". Finally factor in the aging time for the Reposados and Anejos and you quickly get to 10years.

Compare the prices of any 10+ yr old single malt to the prices of the better tequilas and they are right in line, and the single malts are just made from grain!

When I think of things this way I can easily justify the expense of the good stuff :D

I'm not trying to be argumentative and I enjoy sipping a glass of Don Julio as much as anyone but I still don't buy the hype.
Land and labor are insanely cheap in Mexico. With a little bit of marketing and some fancy bottles they are making a mint off us silly gringo's (IMHO)