This summer some coworkers and I celebrated our last night at a project from hell at a nice restaurant. We all had (and shared) good cocktails. Mine was a margarita. I don’t drink very often at all (less than once a year usually :)), but I knew I wanted good tequila, such as 1800 perhaps.
The waiter suggested a high quality tequila, but now I can’t remember the name of it. Help?
Jose’ Cuervo.
What makes a particular tequila high quality? I was under the impression that alcoholic beverages such as tequila or vodka are much more about quickly getting drunk than anything else. If there is some way in which they significantly differ and some offer what others don’t, I’d be glad to find out.
Patron (pronounce with a long o) is commonly billed as a top shelf tequila, depending.
Don Julio is another one that springs to mind that could be considered high quality.
If you are drinking it in a margarita, it really doesn’t matter. You won’t taste any difference - just get the well. Top-shelf stuff is really intended for drinking straight up.
nod Margaritas don’t do a good tequila justice.
My favorite readily-accessible brand is Cazadores - it’s the one with the stag on the bottle. Damn good tequila.
There are 3 different grades of tequila, as an FYI:
There is gold or silver (sometimes called oro or plata), which is the standard off the shelf tequila. Unless it states that it’s Reposado or Anejo, this is what you get. This is tequila that hasn’t been aged, or has been aged for under 6 months, and it’s often pretty raw-tasting. A gold or silver tequila is fine for margaritas, but you don’t want to drink it straight unless you’re shooting it with lime/salt.
Reposado is the next step up - it’s been aged for 6 months to a year in oak casks. The flavor mellows out quite a bit here. It’s flexible - can be good straight or in a drink, and you don’t need to shoot it but you can.
Anejo is tequila that’s been aged for a year or more. The flavor is still distinctly tequila, but it’s much much mellower and smoother. To shoot this stuff or to mix it in a drink is criminal - it’s meant to be savored, straight. This is a sipping tequila.
It’s not about taste, it’s about how shitty you’re going to feel the next morning. It’s worth the extra couple bucks per drink to avoid wanting to stab ice picks into your eyes the next day.
If you are drinking reposado: Cazadores is pretty decent but my current available favourite is Hernencia. I used to be able to get another brand but it’s no longer available in Manitoba… can’t remember the name, but it had a hint of green in colour and the bottle had a picture of an old Mexican man in a poncho and sombraro. That is still one of my favourite tequilas.
When I spring for anejo (or go to Mexico) it’s Don Julio and/or Maestro.
I drink a lot of tequila, don’t believe the amateurs when they tell you they all taste the same 
Even for margaritas, I’d recommend a 100% agave tequila. But the reposados & anejos are more for sipping.
Cazadores is a good standby but there are a lot of excellent tequilas available here in Texas. Sometimes you might be paying for a fancy bottle–but the tequilas in those bottles might still be good. I need to check out some of the local establishments offering tequila flights, just in the interest of research.
The guy who mentioned Jose Cuervo was joking, wasn’t he? They do make some high end stuff, but their “Gold” is the source of some very bad memories…
I can tell you one to avoid: Espolon. I got a bottle of the blanco for free and it sucked. Fun packaging, bad tequila. Yet I do like Cabo Wabo. Tried it because Sammy Hagar bought the company (but has now since sold it off) and it was actually decent stuff.
If you’re going to get hammered it won’t matter. If you want to taste the tequila you won’t get hammered. If you are ordering margaritas you don’t want to taste the tequila.
I can speak to vodka - good vodka is NOTHING about getting quickly drunk. Good vodka can be sublime. If you compare typical well vodka to say Ketel or even Absolut there is a HUGE world of difference taste wise. Some things mary well with OJ or Tomato Juice - some things should only be paired with ice or, if you’re feeling really wacky, perhaps tonic.
Could have been a lot of things.
A few random brands I like, ranging from low-middle to high:
Herderra
Don Julio (I think these guys can probably do no wrong.)
Partida
Casa Noble (So far, my favorite Blanco)
Sauza’s Hornitos (Haven’t really had any “regular” Sauza, but I like this line)
Cazadores
That one in the gorgeous white & blue ceramic bottle
Jose Cuervo’s La Familia
There’s actually a bunch more that I have tried and like, but I can’t remember them. My in-laws & I are all tequila fans, and they have an impressive collection, so I’ve been lucky enough to try way more than I could on my own.
I also like a good mezcal, which they do not, so I’m slowly growing my collection right now.
That’s true for Vodka, but once you get into liquors you can taste, it’s a different ball game. When you’re making drinks with Gin or Tequila…drinks where you can actually taste the gin or tequila, having higher quality liquor makes a difference (or at least liquor that you like the taste of).
When it comes to tequila, I like Cabo Wabo Blanco. I’m glad I didn’t know anything about Sammy Hagar’s association with it when I first bought it. If it had his name or picture on the bottle I would have walked right past it.
It’s not true for vodka either. See my post above. Vodkas have very distinctive tastes.
On the one hand, I agree with you. 99% of my vodka is drank with Tonic and I certainly know which Vodkas I prefer (Ketel 1, Tito’s, Youri Delgoruki, Jewel Of Russia Classic etc…) but I don’t think the flavors vary nearly as much as they do in Tequila or Gin.
Having said that, if I was making a margarita, (especially if it was something like a blended blue raspberry margarita) I have no problem whatsoever using plain old Jose Cuervo Gold. You (the general you) can trash it up and down but once it’s mixed with blue raspberry or strawberry flavoring, all that sugar and brought down to near freezing temps, your not going to taste it.
I always make margaritas with blanco tequila–never repasado or anejo. The type of tequila you use certainly makes a difference in the flavor, but as you go up in price and quality, the law of diminishing returns kicks in. I’ve been a big fan of Lunazul tequila (which I believe is a Cuervo product), and that should be found at around $20 or less per fifth. Another tequila not mentioned that is middle-shelf is El Jimador. The wife did not like this one in her margaritas, but I thought it was really good.
This may be a big difference. For me, a margarita should be tequila, a triple sec of some sort (Patron Citronage works well for a compromise between Cointreau and cheap well triple sec), and freshly squeezed lime juice (key limes if you’re being very particular). Hell, I don’t even want simple syrup in mine, although most people do, so when I make them for parties, I cut it with simple syrup. But always on the rocks, and only enough syrup to take some of the acidic edge off, not enough to make the drink sweet.
Another type of distilled spirit similar to agave that you might like, especially for mixing, is Sotol. The price can be quite a bit less than tequila, with similar flavors and equivalent quality, until you start getting really spendy. I like Hacienda de Chihuahua, but the price has gone up in the last few years.
Other brands of tequila I like that haven’t yet been mentioned include Milagro, Herradura, and, for budget, Toro de Lidia. Siete Leguas is supposed to be awesome throughout their line, but I haven’t managed to try any yet.
I’m a fan of Don Julio. The *Reposado * and Añejo are especially nice straight, but even the Blanco is drinkable.
