Tequila opinion?

I spied a bottle of Corazon Blanco 100% agave tequila marked down at the grocery store today. What's your opinion? And what about the price: $17/375ml.?

[Disclaimer: I work for Brown-Forman, owner/importer of Herradura and Don Eduardo tequilas.]

The price quoted for a 100% Agave Tequila (versus a 'mixto', which allows up to 49% spirits made from sugar cane) is reasonable these days.

Corazon is pretty well regarded.

Should be a good buy.

Not as good as Herradura, mind you. :^)

I like Herradura, but I have a really nice bottle of El Patron Anejo 100% agave.

I like Herradura, but I have a really nice bottle of El Patron Anejo 100% agave.

What, you're trying to insult me, Larry???

There are few tequilas that I will diss---well, few that are 100% Agave, anyway---but Patron is one of those very few.

I simply don't like Patron. I'll leave it at that.

Tell you what: for a relatively minor investment, go to a good tequila bar and set up three or four shots of tequila. Make one Patron. Make another one Don Julio. Make one Herradura. Make another one whatever brand you prefer. But tell the bartender to pour them otherwhere and deliver them up to you blind so you can't tell which is which.

Rank the tequilas in your preference. Then ask the bartender to tell you which is which. If Patron isn't last or least, whenever we manage to get together, I'll either reimburse you the cost of the tasting or give you an equivalent priced bottle of vino, whichever you'd prefer. How's that for a deal?

Sit down and drink the whole thing and you won't really give a rat's what it's like.

rwj

My mate Chris always says that no-one drinks tequila. Some people just keep it down for a bit longer than others...

I'd have to agree with that. I have experienced varying degrees of success. I did manage to keep a whole bottle down once...only once.

rwj

I'd have to agree with that. I have experienced varying degrees of success. I did manage to keep a whole bottle down once...only once.

rwj

Hey, you guys are sloshing, not tasting the stuff!

I know this from past personal (and occasionally painful) experience. :^)

But when you get really good tequila---not the cheap swill---and sip it so as to actually pay attention to the taste, it opens up a whole new world.

Despite early errors with the stuff (ah, college days), I've come to love good quality tequila. I hold the best up to the same levels of admiration of the other great spirits.

Plus, it gets the chicks really blasted!

Don't get me wrong, Hoke. I really admire good tequila too. It's just too easy to joke about the stuff.

rwj

I like Herradura, but I have a really nice bottle of El Patron Anejo 100% agave.

What, you're trying to insult me, Larry???

There are few tequilas that I will diss---well, few that are 100% Agave, anyway---but Patron is one of those very few.

I simply don't like Patron. I'll leave it at that.

Tell you what: for a relatively minor investment, go to a good tequila bar and set up three or four shots of tequila. Make one Patron. Make another one Don Julio. Make one Herradura. Make another one whatever brand you prefer. But tell the bartender to pour them otherwhere and deliver them up to you blind so you can't tell which is which.

Rank the tequilas in your preference. Then ask the bartender to tell you which is which. If Patron isn't last or least, whenever we manage to get together, I'll either reimburse you the cost of the tasting or give you an equivalent priced bottle of vino, whichever you'd prefer. How's that for a deal?

Silly me. I didn't make it clear enough that I have a bottle of rotgut El Patron that I use for a candleholder. Let's skip the tasting and just send me a bottle of Herradura.

I like Herradura, but I have a really nice bottle of El Patron Anejo 100% agave.

What, you're trying to insult me, Larry???

There are few tequilas that I will diss---well, few that are 100% Agave, anyway---but Patron is one of those very few.

I simply don't like Patron. I'll leave it at that.

Tell you what: for a relatively minor investment, go to a good tequila bar and set up three or four shots of tequila. Make one Patron. Make another one Don Julio. Make one Herradura. Make another one whatever brand you prefer. But tell the bartender to pour them otherwhere and deliver them up to you blind so you can't tell which is which.

Rank the tequilas in your preference. Then ask the bartender to tell you which is which. If Patron isn't last or least, whenever we manage to get together, I'll either reimburse you the cost of the tasting or give you an equivalent priced bottle of vino, whichever you'd prefer. How's that for a deal?

Silly me. I didn't make it clear enough that I have a bottle of rotgut El Patron that I use for a candleholder. Let's skip the tasting and just send me a bottle of Herradura.

*whew* Crisis averted. Blanco, Reposado, or Anejo? Or Seleccion Suprema?

Actually, the one I'm loving right now is the Hacienda de Cristeros, Larry. As pure and smooth an evocation of agave I've ever had.

I usually drink the anejo, but I could probably swallow the Seleccion Suprema. Several years ago, I had a glass of $750/bottle tequila. Needless to say, I didn't buy a case.

What do you think of El Tesoro? I was invited some years ago to an El Tesoro tasting and dinner (one of the perks of writing about food) and got to taste a series of increasingly aged tequilas. Even my wife now has a new appreciation of tequila.

Do you carry or know about the brands of Mescal? A friend gave me a bottle of a brand that I rather liked, but I've never found it again. Unfortunately, I'm at the office and can't remember the name, but it came in a blue, cylindrical bottle. I may still have the bottle, and I'll see if I can come up with the brand.

I’m more of a traditionalist, I guess. I prefer Jose Cuervo Especial for most things (i.e. margheritas or shots) For special occasions, I used to quite fond of the Cuervo Anejo…but I have heard that Cuervo has done away with that line (haven’t had it in years). Herradura is good also

Like Hoke, I think Patron is way overrated…though it seems to be very popular.

Richard

Richard: You might want to take a fresh look at Cuervo Especial. Number one, it's not 100% agave. It's also listed as a Joven tequila (although technically I think it's young tequila mixed with some reposado).

To get what you used to get from Cuervo 'Gold' I think now you have to go to Cuervo Tradicional...which IS 100% agave.

A lot of things changed with the agave shortage and accompanying increase in the popularity of tequilas in the late 1990s. Now quite a few standard tequilas aren't 100% agave any longer.

Mind you, I'm not saying that mixtos aren't good. Several of them are. But that's the stuff for making margs and sunrises with.