I could have sworn we had a Tequila thread, but nothing came up after a search. Not sure when I started liking the higher end Tequilas, but it was quite some time ago. Personally, I don’t care for Blanco and if I never do another Tequila shot it will be too soon. I gravitate toward Reposado and Anejo, but typically land back on Reposado. Of course I am talking 100% Agave, otherwise skip it.
My newest find is Lunazul Reposado which I bought because it was inexpensive for a party. At $15 in our stores on sale it seemed like a steal, but I yesterday I drifted across the state line into SC and found it for $12 and change on a cash transaction. I also picked up a bottle of Lunazul Anejo for something like $17. I’ll be giving it a whirl in a few weeks. The Reposado is darn tasty at a really affordable price point. Here’s a blog post which has some of their history.
My go to Reposado for the house has been Cuervo Tradicional for year until I spotted the Lunazul. I tried the 100 Annos Reposado not long ago and it was pretty boring stuff. Good enough for mixing, but not enough character to enjoy over ice. 1800 is ok, but I prefer something a little more spicy and when both Lunazul and the Cuervo are lower in price it just has to sit on the shelf.
I think my first bottle of better Tequila was Cabo Wabo and I recall paying $50 for the fifth. I saw it recently for $35 which is more like where it should be priced. Don Julio Reposado is a fave, but the $50+ price point seems a little steep when you figure I could get it in Mexico for a song, or at least for listening to a 5 min timeshare talk. I really, really enjoy Tres Generaciones Anejo, but it also has a price point which gives pause.
I have two Casta worms, one is a Casta Pasion Añejo (blue) and the other is Casta Pasion Extra Añejo (red). One of these days I’ll crack them open. I’ve had Casta Gusano Extra Añejo, but not the other two.
Unfortunately good tequila sells at a huge premium. It’s hard to find a decent bottle under $40. Don Julio is my standby although both Aha Toro and Dulce Vida are good options. All pricey though. Republic gets decent reviews but IMO it’s just as overpriced and overhyped as Patron. Respectable reposado and anejo mezcal are reaching the market but sadly they are also getting priced at tequila prices although there is far less demand for them.
Best bet to get anything close to fair prices on tequila or mezcal requires going south of the border.
Good Tequila comes at a price around the Mid-Atlantic, but I will still grab a bottle of some 100% Agave from time to time. Tres is an old stand-by. Patron, Cabo Wabo, Don Julio and El Tesoro are some of the brands that have graced my liquor cabinet.
I would like to try Partida, Don Julio Real and Gran Patron just to name a few.
Tequila is one of those things that I never liked, but I’ve always wanted to get into. I think it’s mainly because I was drinking the wrong stuff (sort of like how I never liked beer when all I ever had was Keystone and Natty Ice at keggers). I’ve tried several that I like quite a bit in recent years, but I haven’t gotten to the point where I’ve wanted to roll the dice on something super expensive.
I came across Lunazul Reposado a year or two ago and really liked it. It’s the only tequila I have at home right now, as a matter of fact. I tend to gravitate to the Reposado’s and Añejo’s myself as well.
I’m curious what everyone else’s recommendations are here.
If you like the Lunazul, you would love the Don Julio or the Tres Generaciones. I discovered I never finished off the 100 Annos and so I need to rid myself of that boring Tequila. I see Margaritas in my future.
Aside from bourbon I’m not much of a hard liquor fan. But I do sometimes like tequila. And the only mixed drink I like is margarita, but only with fresh squeezed limes. Not the fake stuff.
One thing I do every year is take some fresh jalapeños from my garden and soak them in a pint of tequila. wait about 72 hours and then make margaritas from that jalapeños soak tequila. Very nice.
I thought I knew what I liked until a business trip to Monterrey MX. Fully expensed trip, we ended up at Sierra Madre for beer, conversation turned to tequila, there were disagreements. … so we ordered many many samplers of tequila. I think the glasses were 5 or 6 inches tall. Don Julio, Cazadores, Corralejo, Herradura. Back 2 back 2 back 2back…Cazadores won and that’s my go to now. We played get the gringo drunk, I spoke with one of the guy’s brothers on the phone for almost an hour arguing about tequila… I am NOT fluent in Spanish by any stretch, he didnt speak a word of English. He was from Jalisco and had the tequila pride thing going. One of the guys playing the previously mentioned game pushed back from the table, bent over and spewed right there. Covered it with a couple napkins and carried on. One guy said something about my mother and was gonna kill me. His manager was sitting next to me and kept apologizing. Maybe if the guy with the threats wasn’t so drunk that he couldnt stand up I wouldn’t have found it so amusing. May be the best business trip I ever had.
Moral of the story: Cazadores.
Thanks, I also got into a fight with the distributor rep from Corralejo. The stuff in MX is 38 vs 40 mandatory by our import laws. I took a sip at the event and right away told the rep it was not the same product. 2° makes a heck of a lot of difference in the final product, the American version pretty much sucks.
(Edit: proof vs percent)
My wife and I recently started trying different tequilas. So far we like Casa Noble and PaQui for silver tequila. We just bought a bottle of Espolon silver for about $26, had a sip and it is good for the price, will try it in magaritas this weekend. We really liked Tres Generaciones Reposado.
