Welcome to TequilaNeat - Kelly's Tequila Page!

I know decent scotch whiskies, I know wine (well enough), etc. But I knew nothing of tequila. I figured there HAD to be a better quality variety than what we're used to. Sure, I knew of (and owned) Patron Silver, Sauza, and others, but they weren't that special. What really got me going was receiving a few good bottles at a birthday party. So I started looking in better Mexican restaurants. Sure enough, there IS a whole industry which makes a lot of spectacular tequilas. I've since spent some time learning about and tasting many high-end offerings from many distilleries. One thing I didn't expect was that each tequila has a "personality" all its own. Some taste like you'd think a tequila would taste, some taste like scotch, cognac, etc. Many have flavors in them such as vanilla, fruit, etc. Less than two years into my journey I'd already decided that I prefer good tequila to good scotch. Who'd have thought? I chose a good time to get into tequila- While the industry has been around for many years, it's only now that it's really starting to boom.

Background
One thing I didn't know was what the different types of tequilas are. Generally the blanco (white or silver) tequilas are cheaper, though there are some very good ones out there. Patron Platinum is quite good, though nowhere near worth a bottle's $210 price tag. Likewise, the añejos are typically more expensive, though there are some which I didn't particularly like. I've found a number of people who have distinctly different preferences than mine- Some prefer the "burn" of a blanco, some like the "middle-of-the-road" characteristics of the reposados, and some prefer the smoother añejos. I think I'm more of an añejo person, though I do have an appreciation for all of the types.

• Joven: Young tequila. Generally interchangable with the term "Mixto." Often labeled as "Gold," it is fortified with another type of alcohol, and has caramel to add sugar and coloring and oak, glycerin and other non-agave sugars to make it more palatable. Cuervo and Sauza "Gold" fall into this category.
• Blanco: Unaged. Distilled, put in a bottle, and sold. Usually (much) harsher than aged tequilas. Also called "silver" or "plata."
• Reposado: Aged in oak for two months up to one year. Smoother, and generally has more flavors.
• Añejo: Aged in oak for one to three years. Smoother still, with more complex flavor, body.
• Extra Añejo: Aged in oak for three to five years. These are less common, and are usually MUCH more expensive.

• Sotol: This is a 100% blue agave spirit that's not made in Jalisco. Since it's not made in the tequila region, it can't be called tequila. There are of course blanco, reposado, and añejo types of sotol.
• Mezcal: An agave spirit that can use any of four different kinds of agave, not just the blue agave. Often uses an open flame distillation instead of a steam distillation, and is often much more smoky than tequila. Has blanco, reposado, and añejo types.

Myths About Tequila
There are many misconceptions about tequila. You've probably heard most, if not all of them.

• Tequila is more potent than other alcohols: No, it's the same content of alcohol as other liquors. 40% or 80 proof in the U.S., 38% or 76 proof in Mexico.
• Tequila will give a terrible hangover: Only the mixtos with cane sugar alcohol and other additives and impurities will give a bad hangover, but the good quality tequilas won't. Having said that, know that consuming a large quantity of ANY alcohol will dehydrate a person. Dehydration can cause headaches.
• Tequila is made from cactus: Not true. It's made from the blue agave plant. Specifically, the core or "piña" of the plant. The blue agave looks like a century plant- It has long spiny leaves, a few inches wide by 5-8 feet long. The leaves aren't used in the production. The piña is large- They can weigh 250-300 lbs (113kg-136kg).
• Tequila has a worm in the bottle: It's Mezcal, not Tequila, that sometimes has a worm in the bottle as a novelty. Even then, only a few mezcals have the worm. In fact, it's not really a worm at all- It's an insect larvae.
• Tequila and Mezcal are the same thing: Not entirely true. All tequilas are mezcals, but all mezcals are certainly not tequila. The distillation processes are different, mezcal can use a wider variety of agave plants and can be produced in a wider area than Tequila.
• Tequila is a kind of "outlaw" brew: Not at all. While there are a number of homebrewed tequilas or sotols in Mexico (and some are quite good, I hear), anything that's made for export to other countries is very carefully regulated by the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT), part of the Mexican government.

Distillation Process
The distillation process is interesting. I've been told by a bartender who knows tequila (Moises, at La Pinata, Fremont) how it's done. The blue agave plant is harvested, cut up into big chunks, baked, then diced into a mash, and set to distill. What comes out from the distillation comes in three phases:

• The Head: The first part of the distillation, has the most volatile, strongest alcohol content.
• The Body: The middle part of the distillation, has the most flavors, a reasonable alcohol content. The best part of the process.
• The Tail: The final part of the distillation. It's the heaviest, "bottom of the barrel," so to speak. The grungy, dirty remnants of the distillation, and most water vapor.

Temperature affects the distillation process. When speaking with Carlos Camarena, the master distiller of El Tesoro tequilas, I was told that alcohol boils at 172.4^oF/79^oC. We know that water boils at 212^oF/100^oC. El Tesoro boils the agave mash JUST above alcohol's boiling point, but well below that of water. Many manufacturers boil the agave at a temperature just below that of water's boiling point to speed up the distillation process. He told me the metaphor of driving- If you're driving at 65 mph over a lot of leaves, your car creates a vacuum which pulls the (undesired) leaves along. But if you drive at 10 mph, there's no vacuum, and the leaves aren't pulled along with the car. The same goes with distillation- El Tesoro distills slower, so as to not pull water vapor along with the alcohol. The water vapor in the tequila will dilute the tequila, and weaken the delicate flavors. If you consider it takes the agave plant eight years to grow to maturity, and 14 days to distill, it seems incomprehensible that most distillers take the shortcut of shaving a few days off the distillation time by raising the temperature.

Marketing and Volume vs. Quality
There are a number of "boutique" tequila distilleries which produce a fraction of the volume of the large, mechanized companies. This is much like the wine industry in California. Ask anyone where wine comes from in California, and you'll hear "Napa Valley." In fact, only 4% of California wines are made in Napa. But these are generally the ones which take the most care in quality production. The same is so with tequila. The better tequilas generally cost more as their processes are more painstaking and a much lower volume is produced.

Ask many people what they think is a good tequila, and they'll often say "Patron." But Patron is to tequila what Gallo is to wine. They produce such massive quantities that their manufacturing processes can't accommodate the artesanal craft processes of the smaller, boutique distilleries. At least Patron produces 100% agave tequila, but I've been told that due to their massive volumes they're forced to buy agave plants wherever they can, even plants that aren't top-quality. It's all ground up together and fermented. In the quantities they produce, the individual iffy agave plants are about as noticeable as a sneeze in a hurricane, but the overall quality degrades because of it. It's Patron's relentless marketing and presence in stores that makes people think it's really good. Still, when compared to the even more common Cuervo "Gold" Especial (often the only other tequila that people know), it IS good. So the industry does owe a debt of gratitude to Patron- It's gotten people to start looking at 100% agave tequilas instead of the mixtos like Cuervo Gold. Think of it as a "gateway" from the cheap stuff of youth to the better products appreciated by a sophisticated adult palate.

Marketing can be taken to the extreme- Clase Azul is a perfect example. It's a 100% agave tequila, and many people think it's REALLY good. Why not? It's expensive, and has an imposing bottle. I spoke with their distribution reps at a tasting at Tres in San Francisco. They told me their production secrets. It seems Clase Azul is more of a marketing machine than a tequila producer. They created the bottles before they even thought about how they wanted to make the tequila! They made the bottle to attract people. It's tall, detailed, and stands out on a shelf. Once that was done, they then decided what the flavor should be. Their decision was wholly based upon what they thought would maximize sales to the U.S. market, not what makes a good tequila. They then engineered the process and ingredients to specifically produce the overly-sweet taste that U.S. Americans seem to like. Lastly they added a high price tag, to give the impression that it's a high-quality tequila. It's all a big charade, as far as I'm concerned.
Now, I suppose they ARE running a business, and that implies that they do want to make a profit. But to me, this feels like a comparision of Hershey's chocolate with good European chocolate. You know what sells, and what's quality. They're rarely the same thing.

Flavors Found in Tequila
While there may be 600 distinct flavors in tequila, there are only a handful of natural flavors that human tastebuds can discern. The flavors of earth, smoke, citrus, banana, and black pepper come from distillation of the blue agave plant. Aging the tequila in American oak adds almond, nuts, caramel, and vanilla. Using French oak also adds a dark chocolate flavor. There are a number of tequila makers that age their tequila in used Jack Daniel's barrels (seems a little like cheating to me, though). Some use these barrels once, some use them over and over. Using an autoclave in the baking process extracts more sugars from the agave, and results in a MUCH sweeter tequila. Connsider that a true premium tequila maker such as Casa Noble will bake the agave in stone ovens for 38 hours, whereas those cranking out the lower quality, heavily sweet stuff will bake the piña in an autoclave pressure-cooker for 6 hours.
Everyone cooks to some degree- Which gives better flavor: Slow cooking, or using high heat just to get something done faster? You know the answer to that.
You'll see from my notes there are other hints of things that can be picked up. Not just pepper, but differentiation between black, green, and white pepper. Sugar flavors can be of beets, banana, caramel. There's a term called "forest floor" which is a peaty, woody, fern-like taste. Imagine the smell of a redwood forest after a rain. There are other perceptible flavors too: Tobacco, cinnamon, spices, floral notes, vegetable notes, leather, vanilla, oak, etc. Brettanomyces bacteria (also known as "brett") can cause a sweaty socks aroma and/or flavor. This is not necessarily unpleasant, despite how it sounds. It took me by surprise the first time I ran across it, but I've since learned that it's actually pretty common. When a tequila is distilled in an open-topped manner, brett can get in. The intensity of its influence ranges from non-existent to wholly overpowering.
I've even picked up some really odd flavors like latex paint, Windex, "Super elastic bubble plastic," among other things.

Some manufacturers artificially add flavors. While doing so might make the tequilas more interesting, a purist might find the practice to be unethical. In fact, the governing Tequila board in Mexico prohibits the practice. I've heard that the Porfidio brand was shut down for doing just that (though it's now been restarted with a different distiller using the Porfidio name). Apparently the Tequila board is now allowing the addition of small amounts of (very concentrated) flavorings. I hear that Cazadores has lobbied the Tequila board to be allowed to add flavors. Since Cazadores can do it, they all must be allowed. Being somewhat a purist in some ways, this seems a little sad to me. Moises at La Pinata says that even the color of a tequila can indicate whether it's been "enhanced." It takes time for the oak to color the tequila. Yet, how is it that something aged only a few months to a few years can look so deeply yellow?

Augmentations could be one possibility, but another is that the oak barrels could be charred beforehand. This imparts more smokiness and other flavors, and is considered "honest" as opposed to simply adding flavorings to the tequila. Some distillers heavily char the barrels for a deep smokiness, some don't char them at all, to give a lighter flavor. Casa Noble performs what they call a "light toast" to the barrels, which adds some smokiness without going too far. I look back on all the tequilas I've tried, and note how many have such a deep color, and wonder which were aged in charred barrels, and which were augmented.
My #1 favorite was Don Julio 1942 (although it's since been surpassed). They changed the bottle, and the flavor also changed. I'd heard that they'd been adding flavors to the original ("blue label" bottle) 1942, and no longer do that with the current version of it. Honestly, I felt cheated when I heard that. Its relpacement ("brown bottle") is still excellent, but my tastebuds prefer the original version. I'm torn on how to rank the old one: Do I keep it ranked highly due to taste, or bump it down because it wasn't honest? I've since heard from a Don Julio distributor that flavors hadn't been added. It's hard to know what to believe- The "word on the street" is strong. Since I'm not sure of the real story, it keeps its rank.

Another trick is to age tequila in barrels previously used for other beverages. Quite a few tequila distillers age tequila in used Jack Daniels bourbon barrels, and some use barrels which were previously used to age wine or other spirits.

How to Drink Tequila
I can hear it now: "I don't need you to tell me how to drink, Kelly!" Yes, I suppose that's true. Do what makes you happy.
But indulge me for a second- Throughout this page and all my tastings, I am assuming that good tequila is to be sipped neat (hence the name of this site). No ice, no salt, no lime. Perhaps a little sangrita as a palate cleanser between tequilas.
Yes, yes, I know- Everyone's used to shooting tequila, with salt and lime. This is a horrible thing to do. It's done this way with cheap tequila, because it tastes so badly that you don't want the taste or aftertaste in your mouth. But why would one shoot good tequila? Savor it, enjoy it. Good sipping tequila is clearly a very different thing than the cheap stuff that's been available (and so widely marketed) around the U.S. for so long.

When you're sipping tequila, the glass makes a huge difference. Oddly, many bars will serve tequila in shot glasses. These are entirely wrong. Use a small brandy snifter, or something that's somewhat closed at the top. See the photo at the top of this page for a good example. These types of glasses concentrate the vapors and aromas of the liquor and you'll get the full experience and flavor of the tequila. With an open-topped glass, your nose will not get the proper benefit of the aroma, and the taste will literally suffer because of it. If you're looking to buy tasting glasses, the best of the best are Reidel Ouverture and Stolzle Weinland Champagne glasses.

Swirl the tequila in the glass, as you'd do with wine. Tilt the glass, and smell the aroma at three different places: At the bottom of the mouth of the glass, and in the middle, and at the top. You'll sense different things at each different location.

Take a sip. Not too large, not too small. Let the tequila roll over your tongue, and don't swallow immediately. Savor the flavors. As you swallow, you may sense even more flavors. After swallowing, pause a moment, and pay attention to the aftertaste, or finish.

"But what about margaritas?" I hear you ask. Margaritas are indeed wonderful things. And while I typically make them with a good tequila, I don't use a VERY good tequila. The lime juice, agave syrup, and other ingredients will mask the subtle flavors of an excellent tequila. Will I use Patron silver in a margarita? Yes, but there are much better tequilas that are priced about the same. It's true that better ingredients make a better finished product, so a better variety than Patron will make a better margarita. But don't use something that costs more than $30-40 a bottle. At that point you're wasting money, and wasting good tequila.
Having said that, I did make a margarita with Casa Noble Reposado (one of my favorites). While it might be considered blasphemy to turn such a good tequila into a margarita, I have to say it was utterly amazing.

What's Best?
If you want to get a feel for the agave and basic distillation quality of a distiller's products, taste their blanco tequila. Unlike the reposado and añejo, the blanco's flavors aren't influenced by the oak used in aging.
So, which types of tequila is "best?" There isn't one.

The one that tastes best to YOU is the best for you. But, if you're a gin or vodka fan, you'll likely prefer the blancos. If you're a whiskey or scotch drinker, you'll likely prefer the añejos. It all comes down to whether you like your alcohol aged in oak or not. It's funny- Being a scotch drinker, I've felt that the more refined, smoother tequilas were "better." But that's not entirely true- One of my favorites is the El Tesoro Reposado. It's generally the one I've opened when I come home from work and pour a shot (and that was the case BEFORE my meeting Carlos Camarena of El Tesoro). Ordinarily I prefer the añejos to the reposados to the blancos. But that's not always the way they shake out: Sometimes I prefer a distiller's products in the reverse order, sometimes in no order at all. It's all about keeping an open mind, and letting the aromas and tastes speak for themselves.

What Do I Like?
I'm often asked "What's your favorite?" While that's an interesting question, I think even more interesting would be: "What brands do you find the most consistently good?" Casa Noble clearly stands out. Since their tequilas have such a distinctive personality, it's hard to separate them. Only the blanco is more "common" in my eyes. Alongside Casa Noble, I'd recognize El Tesoro and Don Julio.
One way to get a feel for what I would recommend is to look at the spreadsheet below. It shows what is (or has been) in my collection, and whether I've made a note to myself that buying a certain tequila is a good idea.
Another interesting question would be "What brands have the best and worst value?" See below and download my spreadsheet. There's a worksheet specifically sorted to show a tequila's relative value. (Again, according to my taste).

A conversation with someone made me realize that something needs to be made clear: Everyone must understand that my preferences are just that- MY preferences. If I rate someone's favorites poorly, it's just the way my tastebuds see things. It's no reflection on the relative quality, nor a reflection on someone else's taste. I now have a lot of experience in tasting tequilas, but I'm not a trained expert in judging quality (I'm just an enthusiastic amateur). Besides, I have no right nor inclination to contradict what someone else happens to enjoy!
That being said, my preferences tend to lean more towards earthy tequilas, with complex flavors. A balance of subtle complex flavors, sweetness, fire, and earthy characteristics is ideal in my mind (and mouth). Now, there are a lot of tequilas coming out that seem to be designed to cater to the average U.S. American's taste for sugar. I find many of these new tequilas to be way, WAY too sweet. As such, I tend to rate them lower- Because at the end of the day, I'm only writing down my impressions of how a tequila tastes appeals to me. But exceptions can also happen- Many extra añejo (or XA) tequilas feel a bit too sweet and over-refined to me, but I sort of look at them as a "dessert tequila," much as port would be to wine. While they're not what I'd have on a normal basis (due to the price as well as flavor), for special occasions they can be interesting.

I've compiled a list of the tequilas I've tasted, saving a number of pieces of information about each of them. I track the number of the distillery where it was produced, where I've tasted it, whether it's a highland or lowland variety, prices for a bottle of each where possible, as well as a brief description of my impressions of it and a note as to whether or not I should consider buying it for myself.
This data is sorted in different ways, each on a different worksheet, to easily find different things:

• The first worksheet is the ranking according to my preference. Best at the top, worst at the bottom (your tastes will no doubt be different). The color coding should be fairly obvious- Green are the best, white is good, yellow is so-so, and red are those not to my liking.

• The second worksheet shows the tequilas listed alphabetically. There are now so many in the list that it's hard to find a particular one in the preference ranking! It's also the best way of locating whether I've tried a specific one or not.
  Note that some have the word "Tequila" in the name, like "Tequila Ocho." Look for it under "T" not "O".

• The third worksheet is the tequilas sorted by NOM. The NOM is the identification of the distillery in which the tequila was made. It's interesting to see how many different brands are produced at the same place, even though they are billed as different companies.

• The fourth worksheet is the tequilas sorted by rank, for each type of tequila. Interested to see how, say, all Reposados shake out against each other? This is the worksheet. I wondered how many "good" blancos I've seen, and how many "not so good" añejos I've tried. This makes it easy to see.

• The fifth worksheet is the relative value of a tequila. They're sorted by price, then by rank. Choose a price range, and look for the lowest rank number within that range. This is my idea of the best value of a tequila in that price range. It's interesting to see that a tequila's price often isn't indicative of its quality and flavor. Often times the price is more a reflection of how interesting its bottle is, or how much its marketing department thinks they can get for it. Sure, there are low-cost cheap tequilas, and some of the best are expensive. But just as often there are excellent tequilas of reasonable price, and sub-standard tequilas with a high price tag.

No, Cuervo Gold isn't on the list- It doesn't count. Only true 100% Blue Agave tequilas are listed, although I do list some unusal specialty tequilas at the bottom.