Rancho Tequila: May 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tequila Don Diego Santa Añejo - rich and chocolaty!

Skinny bottle, fat taste!

In 1943, the Santa family established a small tequila distillery in Guadalajara, Mexico. Since then this is where Tequila Don Diego Santa is produced, using a multiple distillation process and small batch pot distillation. The family grows their agaves at higher than normal altitudes for 8-10 years, until they acquire the desirable sugar that allows for maximum fermentation by natural yeasts that come from the same fields where the agave plants are grown. After harvesting and cooking the agaves, the nectar is then extracted and double distilled for absolute purity by slowly cooking the Blue Agave in small batches, one small batch at a time, in stainless steel pots. This is without question a more expensive and time consuming process, but the payoff is worth it...a truly wonderful tequila that is the spirit of Mexico. Don Diego Santa Anejo is aged fora minimum of twelve months and is blended with tequilas aged far longer in American Oak barrels. The final blend averages at least 18 months of aging. It is then bottled at 40%ABV and is certified as Kosher.

Buy me!

TASTING NOTES - THE BEVERAGE TASTING INSTITUTE/ TASTINGS.COM

Brilliant old gold color. Vibrant roasted pecan pie, dark chocolate, baked fig and peppery spice aromas follow though on a round, oily entry to a dryish medium body with prominent cocoa and roasted nut elements supported by creamy vanilla and pepper. Finishes with pleasant cigar box, cola nut, and peppery spice fade. A nutty añejo treat.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Vida-Rita!

Livin' la Pura Vida!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Kudos for Corralejo!

Going back a few years, one of my first favorite "every day" tequilas was Corralejo reposado. I loved to mix margaritas with it, and I also loved it straight. Not the blanco, not the añejo; the repo in the tall blue bottle. Of course over the last few years I have found better, more "boutique" tequilas. Corralejo is mass-produced. I get that. In Mexico it's everywhere, at $11 a bottle. But around here (in New England), it has been mis-categorized as a "top-shelf" tequila, and it's overpriced. So instead of being $20 or $25 per bottle, it's nearly $40. So I don't buy it as a rule. But you know what? Just bought my first bottle of Corralejo repo in a couple years (paid $37 -ouch!), and here's the deal: I still REALLY like it. If it was $20 I'd never run out of it. Corralejo, mi corazón.

My Tequila Discovery, 1992

My agave quest began a relatively long time ago -- long before the more recent Patron-driven 100% agave revolution began in the USA. It was October of 1992. My band was playing the prestigious CMJ (College Media Journal) Music Conference in NYC. We had the great fortune to be placed at Rodeo Bar, one of the convention's official venues. This was appropriate because then, as now, we played a twangy Texas-style music. The big thing about playing the Rodeo was that 1) they paid the bands and 2) they fed the bands for free and 3) they even provided free drinks! Great place! See, they were the ONLY place that paid the bands. At all the other venues the bands played these "SHOWCASES" for free, and it was really pay-to-play because of the expense of doing it. So like I said, we were lucky as hell.
So we played and had a good gig and enjoyed the other bands on the bill and ate at the adjoining (excellent) Tex-Mex restaurant, then called "Albuquerque". The bar itself was a converted actual cattle car, and this very nice bartender named Erin took a liking to us. The night wore on, and before you knew it, only my bass-player and myself remained at the cattle-bar with Erin. We had been drinking beers and were now in the mood for a tequila shot. Erin then says, "Guys, you need to try some REAL tequila!" She pointed up to the top of the bar to some dusty bottles hidden in the shadow above the bar-lights. "Our Mexican cooks bring this stuff up from Mexico when they come back from visiting home. It's their private stash," Erin said. Our eyes got big. Would there be worms? Scorpions?
But without further ado and at no charge she lined us up three shots from three different bottles and we tasted them.
Damn dude!
The lights went on in technicolor. Flavor! Spice! Smoothness! Wood! Baby!

Then the lights went out.

We literally fell off our bar-stools and staggered our way out to the NY streets at about 3 am. I still have NO memory of getting back to the hotel.
I had no idea what labels were on those bottles, so I couldn't tell you what I drank that night. But for the rest of the 90's and up until now I have sought out the best tequila available. And in the mid '90s there was not much available. At first it was stuff like Hornitos and Conmemorativo. Then I think, yes, it was Don Julio that a Mexican buddy of mine brought back from Mexico. It was not yet available in the US, or at least around here. Then came Tradicional and Herradura and El Jimador and Cabo Wabo and El Tesoro and then Patron came along and the blue floodgates of agave opened.

Thank you Erin, wherever you are! This is all your fault!

www.ranchotequila.net