Sipping Tequila

[SlyMoose]

Just like the title says, I wanna hear about sipping tequilas you gentlemen like. My buddies wedding is coming up and I want to surprise him with some good stuff.

I’d like to keep it $100 and under if I can.

He likes Don Julio and Patron. I know there’s better tequila out there so help me out!

 

[danek]

Pofidio is my favorite, but hard to find. something a little more unique with a great backstory, Del Maguey Mezcal. www.delmaguey.com They are all different, and most are delicious. I tend to like their mid-priced offerings.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Espolon has a great anejo and a reposado that are aged in bourbon barrels and very smooth.

I also like Hornitos, both their reposado and anejo. I tried Herradura anejo, and it was good but would probably be better in reposado.

I avoid any maker's extra anejo as that's too much oak for me.

I'm relatively new to tequila but have been enjoying trying out different options at places that serve them chilled in sipping glasses. The best thing about tequila is that as long as it's 100% agave, they're mostly good. If I ever buy a bottle I don't like I would just make margaritas with it.

 

[Rory1262]

If you're sipping tequila, then make some sangrita to go with it (many different recipes).

 

[danek]

If you're sipping tequila, then make some sangrita to go with it (many different recipes).

Good Call!!! I love a good Sangrita. Like everything uncomplicated, it can go from fantastic to 'yuck' pretty easily,

 

[TexLaw]

The first think I thought of was Espolon. It's quite good, readily available, and usually around $30. You can spend about as much as you want, but you might have to spend at least twice as much to get much better stuff.

Also, I agree about the "Extra Anejo" tequilas. It's too much barrel, and not enough tequila. You're better off getting a good whiskey.

 

[TheVez2]

I've only tried one good sipping tequila. Cabo Wabo Reposado. But I really like it.

 

[Luxem]

There is a Corzo tequila that I had once for sipping rather than shooting... talk about incredibly delicious and smooth - my friend kept it in a freezer, and it isnt overly expensive!

 

[RobW]

For whatever brand, I'd suggest the reposado style is most in line for what you're looking for..ymmv..but to me it's a bit sweeter and more flavorful than anejo. There are tasty, affordable examples of both of course.

I'll echo the espolon recommendation its delicious, cazadores is a big favorite, and maybe..milagro (tall blue bottle) is the sweetest tasting tequila I've had, but maybe that's not how others would call it..

Let us know what you end up getting and congrats to the newly wed!

 

[ackvil]

Unfortunately, my neighbor got me started on sipping Tequilas. He is from Mexico and has an incredible collection. We have gotten together a number of times over the past two years and I have compiled a list of those that we both like. My favorites so far:

• Don Julio 1942
• Clase Azel Reposado
• Don Julio Blanco
• Herradura Anejo
• Herradura Reposado
• Herradura Collection Reserva
• Riazul Premium Anejo

My wife likes the Clase Azul the best since it comes in a "pretty container."

 

[RobW]

I'd been eye balling that Herradura horseshoe a couple times, won't pass it up next time!

Unfortunately, my neighbor got me started on sipping Tequilas. He is from Mexico and has an incredible collection. We have gotten together a number of times over the past two years and I have compiled a list of those that we both like. My favorites so far:

• Don Julio 1942
• Clase Azel Reposado
• Don Julio Blanco
• Herradura Anejo
• Herradura Reposado
• Herradura Collection Reserva
• Riazul Premium Anejo

My wife likes the Clase Azul the best since it comes in a "pretty container."

 

[Boghopper]

 

[martym]

There is a Corzo tequila that I had once for sipping rather than shooting... talk about incredibly delicious and smooth - my friend kept it in a freezer, and it isnt overly expensive!

Corzo Blanco is my favorite because I prefer the strong Agave flavor but all three Corzo offerings are the best I have ever had for a sippin Tequila.
I also keep my Corzo in the freezer.

 

[Acmemfg]

Chinaco Reposado. Stumbled onto this in Scottsdale AZ some years back..still the best tequila I have had to date

 

[jesseix]

Another vote for Clase Azul, I actually like their blanco a lot on its own (best blanco I've had).
Also Casamigos, and there was another one that a buddy who's really into tequila turned me on to but I'm blanking on the name... I'll post it when it comes to me.

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

[...] Also Casamigos, [...].

Jesseix:
Although I'm not a 'fan' (except in Long Island Iced Teas...I like mine w/ a generous 'splash' of sweet tea

), I read this article about tequila and it mentioned the giant Casamigos...once owned by yes...yes...the actor George Clooney and Rande Gerber.

And since we're on the topic of tequila...I thought this article would be a great 'background' info.

By Mark Seal - Photos by Corey Arnold - National Geographic - June 3, 2018

"Tequila Rocks!!!

When George Clooney and Rande Gerber’s tequila company, Casamigos, sold for $1 billion last year, it begged the question: How did the once-humble swill become so swank? A trek through Mexico 'distills' all.

Stripped of their leaves, agave piñas wait to be cooked.

Once upon a time in Guadalajara, there lived two competing tequila-making families, Sauza and Cuervo,” read a March 1967 National Geographic story. “They had always quarreled and for a generation they had exchanged both insults

and pistol shots.

Sauza children never met Cuervo children in Guadalajara. But then young Javier Sauza went to a small university in Chicago...”

Guillermo Parilla, a jimador (harvester), cuts the long, thorn-covered leaves from an agave plant for the production of tequila in Jalisco, Mexico.

There, the third-generation heir to the Sauza tequila dynasty met and secretly married a beautiful, red-haired Cuervo relative. This so enraged Javier’s father—who, according to folklore, shot a Cuervo dead in the 1900s in the streets of Tequila, the town about 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara that gave the spirit its name—that he banned his son from the family business, leaving the him to toil as a Mexico City tour guide and sustain a string of odd jobs before being allowed back into the company shortly before his father’s death in 1946.

Javier elevated tequila’s image, creating upscale brands such as Tres Generaciones, to honor his Sauza forebears, and fighting off imitators, most vehemently the Japanese. Then in 1976 Javier did the unthinkable: He sold the family tequila company—at precisely the wrong time. The peso devaluation gutted his profits. Worse, the Sauza brand was sent spiraling through increasingly foreign hands and is now owned by... Beam Suntory, a Japanese-owned conglomerate.

Agave fields blanket a hill at Tequila Fortaleza Distillery.

“I am sure my grandfather regretted selling the company that had been in our family three generations,” says Guillermo Sauza, a fifth-generation member of the pioneering tequila clan. For 20 years, Guillermo, now 65, was a Sauza without a tequila to call his own. In 1999, he took over the last family-owned distillery, which had been shuttered since 1968. His grandfather also left behind the distillery’s name—Fortaleza, meaning Fortitude. It now adorns the label of his grandson’s small-batch brand, sold and acclaimed world-wide, and seems to be an apt description for what it takes to survive, much less thrive, in the spirit industry’s most overheated field.

Roberto Jimenez Ramos, a jimador [holding his coa de jima] for Tequila Ocho in Jalisco, Mexico.

Standing on Calle José Cuervo, in the center of the gold-rush city of Tequila, Mexico (pop. 40,000), I’ve spent the day and most of the night tasting tequila at distilleries. And the hallucinatory spirit that has made a fool of many a mortal is making a monkey of me. My head is swimming. Not from the alcohol, but the acrimony. I have listened to tortured tales of family feuds and corporate lawsuits, of trade secret banditos and tequila larceny. I’ve heard whispers from representatives of one brand and curt denials from the other—or cold refusals to respond.

La Capilla, a bar in downtown Tequila, is known for its energetic locals and spontaneous singing.

“Be very skeptical of the Kool-Aid they’re pouring,” one tequila aficionado said of one brand. “That’s history that brings back bad memories,” said a second. “The story of tequila involves generations of Mexican families and there are some stories not able to be spoken openly about, much less printed,” added a third.

There’s so much turmoil in Tequila that I need another drink—which one can find on every corner. Here, the air is perpetually smoky sweet with the scent of tequila being made, poured and consumed. Almost every building’s outer wall advertises a brand and every lane holds a distillery, tequila shop, stand, statue or bar. Two museums tell the spirit’s tumultuous story back to when it was called Mexican Whisky Brandy.

Tequila was born in fire, according to legend. Its birthplace is right outside of town, 9,580 feet atop Volcán de Tequila, where a spiky blue agave, the cactus plant from which tequila is made, supposedly exploded after being struck by lightning, and the Nahua tribe tasted the plant’s sweet nectar, which, both holy and blessed by Mayahuel, goddess of agave, became the spirit that would intoxicate the world: tequila".

Read More: Tequila Rocks

"Tequila probably won't fix all your problems...but its worth a shot". Anonymous

 

[REV579]

Hands down, the best sipping tequila I’ve ever had

http://www.quitequila.com/

I use herradura for margaritas(their mix too).

QUI wins

 

[nffclsr]

Since I spend most of my time in Mexico (you'd be surprised that most Mexicans I know drink whisky), I have been fortunate to try 100s of different Tequilas. Years ago I took it upon myself to research the history and production of the magical juice, and built up a modest collection which I have down to about 60 different bottles now.

An article above touches on my favorite brand, it used to be called Los Abuelos but is now called Forteleza due to some rum brand crying about copyright. It is made by the ancestors of one of the biggest names in the business, keeping tradition alive in the face of big business, right down to the bottles and stopper.

I could go on and on about Tequila which I am sure would bore most, but my advice is to look just a little bit outside of most of the popular, easy to obtain brands and you might find a hidden gem.

 

[jovan]

+1 on Tequila Ocho.

 

[The Knize]

I used to love Casa Noble, but I think quality has gone down as production has gone up on most of the line. However, judging by the reviews, I would think its Extra Anejo Single Barrel Select should be a home run. It seems to come in right at the $100 mark.

The bottle looks different these days, but I have had the El Tesoro de Don Filipe Paradiso Extra Anejo in the past, and it was excellent. Looks like it is more like $130, though. I used to see El Tesoro around all the time, but it has been a while since I have seen it. It was my favorite reposado for a while.

The other suggestions here are good. I have had a bottle of Chinaco Anejo in the past. It seemed solid but rather profoundly oaked to me. I am guessing that tastes will vary as to it because of that.