Tequila, it seems, is no longer the gulp of Mexico. That delicate sipping sound we’ve been hearing lately has been coming from dark saloons, mahogany bars and way-hip restaurants. It’s the sound of $6 pours of barrel-aged tequila being savored like so much Glenlivet, like so much Chateau Margaux.
The origin of the word says a lot about the drink. In the Aztec language of the Nahuatl Indians, tequila means volcano. And let’s be honest, tequila has always been pretty volcanic in both taste and effect.
“A shot glass of battery acid,” said Zenon Oprysk, bar manager at Cedar Street restaurant in Dallas. “That’s part of the tradition, with the lime and the salt on the back of the hand, the `training wheels’ that take the edge off it.
“Some people still prefer their tequila-drinking experience to be highly adversarial. They expect to have to wrestle it down.”
Those wrestling matches are still popular, yes, and there’s a sizable population still getting wasted away in Margaritaville. But the lick-shoot-and-bite crowd is giving ground to the sip-and-savor folks who are discovering the more refined and more expensive tequilas made solely from the blue agave plant. (Agave is the spiny plant–a kind of lily, not a cactus–upon which all tequila is built.)
Who’s doing all this high-end sipping? The profile seems to be young, urban, upwardly mobile, men and women alike, in their late 20s and early 30s.
“They’re Generation X or Y, young people who are looking for a new spirit they can claim as their own, something that doesn’t belong to their old-fogey parents,” said Anna Warpe-Lillian, president of Spiritismo, which imports El Grito tequila. “They’re at the level of becoming more sophisticated. They’re not going out with friends to shoot Jose Cuervo.”
Cuervo, for all its Ernest and Julio Gallo connotations, owned 47 percent of the tequila market in 1997, and the company also has some finely made 100 percent agave tequilas. These “designer tequilas” account for a small fraction of the overall tequila market, perhaps 10 percent, Warpe-Lillian said.
Industry figures show that most tequila in the United States–75 percent by volume–still goes into that old standby, the margarita. Shot-slammers account for another 15 percent. But the sippers, at 10 percent, have been gaining ground the last few years.
Quality or quantity?
Haven’t we seen some of this before, with newfound, nose-in-the-air appreciations of fine wines, single-malt Scotches, small-batch Bourbon and imported premium cigars?
What’s next? A house full of Phi Delts, pinkies akimbo, nibbling at their snifters of barrel-aged Reserva tequila?
“People are drinking less but they’re drinking better,” Oprysk said. “In the ’70s and ’80s, the object was to drink as many shots as possible. But people aren’t just swilling down whatever they can get hold of. Scotch consumption is down, for example, but single malts are up. Same with tequila.”
Retailers are trying to figure out where the high-end tequila market is going. A profusion of new brands has made it hard on the consumer, especially with prices of $10 to $70 a bottle. Some of these new brands will stick, most will disappear.
The production of the liquor–growing, harvesting, fermenting and double-distilling–is relatively simple and not wildly expensive. It’s marketing and packaging, experts say, that can affect the price as much as what’s inside. Some tequila bottles put luxury perfumes to shame.
All tequila is not the same, that’s quite clear, and its face-wrinkling reputation might be changing.
“A top-end Reserva is smooth and tasty, and it’s not a drink you have to wrestle with,” Oprysk said. “What matters, finally, is that tequila is fun. It just has that spirit to it.”
What to do with it
The Mexican martini has become very popular, and it’s a simple twist on that potent old favorite. One version has tequila, fresh lime juice and triple sec. Any bar can make a martini as you like it, substituting tequila for the vodka or gin. Serve it cold, straight up, in a martini glass, maybe garnished with a jalapeno.
To make Blimeys, cut a lime in half, hollow out the halves, square off the ends and pour in cold tequila. A fun, simple way to make shooters.
Restaurateur Julio Aguilar of Addison, Texas, has developed a whole family of tequila-based drinks. There’s the margarita, of course, plus a drink made with tamarind juice that’s named for Margarita’s husband, Margarito.
Then, too, there’s a tequila drink made with guanabana, the tropical fruit from the Mexican state of Ixtapa. “It’s called a panchita,” Aguilar says. “Panchita is the daughter of Margarita and Margarito.”
Aguilar’s other concoctions include the submarino, a glass of Corona with an upside-down shot glass of tequila in it; the cucaracha, a flaming tequila-and-Kahlua combination; the charro negro, which is tequila and cola, and the charro blanco, made with tequila and Squirt.
The folks at Jose Cuervo suggest this recipe for macarena punch: 1 ounce gold tequila, 1 ounce rum, plus cranberry juice, pineapple juice and sweet-and-sour mix. Serve in a tall glass over ice. (Sounds as deadly as the dance was annoying.) Or this simple recipe for an Aztec ruin: equal parts 100 percent blue agave tequila and Rose’s lime juice. Serve ice cold, on the rocks or not, for shooting or sipping.
A TEQUILA GLOSSARY
Tequila is made in five states in Mexico, principally in the west-central state of Jalisco. Just as all real Champagne comes only from that particular region of France, authentic tequila comes only from Jalisco and its four neighbors.
By Mexican law, all tequila must be at least 51 percent agave sugars. The other 49 percent can be added sugar, fruit juice, virtually anything. Cheap, run-of-the-still tequila comes across the United States border in tanker trucks. The finest tequilas, however, are made only from blue agave, and this distinction is always clearly stated on the bottle.
Some new tequila drinkers slow down enough to read the label before emptying the bottle. Here are some terms they might see.
Agave: (Pronounced ah-GAH-vay.) The spiny plant from which tequila is made. Also known as blue agave or blue Weber agave, the plant is not a cactus but rather a member of the lily family. Real tequila must be at least 51 percent agave, and the finest tequilas are 100 percent blue agave.
Anejo: (Pronounced ahn-YAY-ho.) Tequila aged for a minimum of one year. Anejos are usually the top-shelf tequilas. Aging a tequila more than three years is a marketing gimmick and pointless affectation.
Gold: This means nothing more than the tequila is a golden color–perhaps from its time in oak barrels but more likely because it has had caramel coloring added. Tequila makers originally concocted this bit of marketing to make their commonplace “silver” or “white” tequilas appeal to the Scotch- and bourbon-drinking American market.
Joven: (Pronounced HO-ven.) Literally, “young.” The term typically applies to a white or silver tequila that is fresh off the still. Joven tequilas are sometimes called abocados.
Margarita: Unless you’ve been aboard Mir for the last few decades, you’ll know that this drink is the world’s most popular tequila-delivery system. Usually made with tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and sweet-and-sour mix.
Mescal: Rougher than tequila, this 80-proof liquor from Oaxaca can be made from agaves and other plants. It is distilled only once and varies greatly in quality. Mescal, which is unregulated by the Mexican government, occasionally has a worm (or moth larva) at the bottom of the bottle. Tequila never has a worm in it.
Reposado: Literally, this means “rested.” A step below the anejo tequilas, reposados are aged between three months and a year.
Reserva: This term usually denotes a brand’s best tequilas, made from the best plants, distilled in small batches and aged in oak barrels. There are no regulations about the use of the word, however, and even the most ordinary tequilas could be called “Reserva” by unscrupulous makers.
Sangrita: A sipping sidekick to tequila. Recipes vary, but most sangritas contain tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt and black pepper.
Silver: Also known as plata, white or blanco tequilas, these are non-aged tequilas that usually aren’t 100 percent blue agave. See “Gold.”
