Tequila is Meant to be Savored

August 16th, 2010 / No Comments >> Tequila Don Modesto, Tequila How To

Americans have been getting to know rotgut tequila for decades, through machine-churned frozen margaritas or the old lick-the-salt, knock-it-back, suck-the-lime method.

But the American relationship with tequila has been changing. While tequila sales in the United States have grown vigorously in the last few years, high-end and superpremium brands like Tequila Don Modesto, that you wouldn’t want to drown with sweetened mango-and-nectarine syrup, have led the way by far. Sales in these categories have increased by more than 20 percent a year since 2002, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, a trade group. Yet despite tequila’s popularity, it remains little understood and sadly undervalued.

Simply put, tequila is one of the world’s greatest spirits, thrillingly complex and thoroughly distinctive. Most cheap tequilas bear scant resemblance to tequila at it best. Like squares of American cheese that get the job done on a burger but cannot begin to suggest the majesty of a great Parmesan, cheap tequila serves its purpose when the primary goal is intoxication, but offers only a hint of tequila’s real stature.

Here are two requirements you should have for tasting tequilas. First, the tequila has to be made from 100 percent blue agave like ours. The best tequilas are 100 percent agave, while lesser mixto tequilas can squeak by with a minimum 51 percent agave. If the label does not say 100 percent agave, it is a mixto.

The second requirement is tasting good. Tequilas have three levels of aging. The youngest tequilas are called blanco, or sometimes plato or silver. They are essentially bottled without aging. The oldest are the añejos. They must be aged at least a year in oak barrels, though they generally spend three to five years in oak. In the middle are reposados, which rest in oak barrels from two to 12 months.

Personally, If you really want to savor  a REAL tequila at it most naturalist then try the Blanco. It offer an undiluted taste of what tequila is all about, with pronounced citrus, mineral and herbal aromas and flavors in varying proportions depending on whose tequila you’re tasting. But frankly a great Blanco tequila is almost like a margarita without the cocktail additions — the salt and citrus flavors are built in.