I just plunked down 140 bucks for a shot of tequila.
And I’m ready to do it again.
But I’m not the only one newly smitten with this spirit from south of the border. Tequila, which has always been much more than a mixer for margaritas, is the fastest growing segment of the distilled spirits industry.
Nowhere is that more apparent than among the tequilas dubbed super premium and ultra premium, tequilas that have moved into price-tag territory once ruled by cognac and Armagnac. For sippers of such spirits, there are tequila sommeliers, tequila tastings and leather-bound tequila lists. Some of the pricier numbers, in their beautifully crafted glass bottles, are locked in restaurant cabinets.
Pairing the words “tequila” and “connoisseur” is no longer an oxymoron.
“Tequila’s come a long way,” says Judy Blatman, of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States in Washington, D.C. “The latest trend in tequila is sipping tequilas. They’re very smooth. There’s a cachet to them. And if you have the money to spend $140 on a shot, you are a discerning customer.”
Since 1989, tequila consumption has increased 75 percent in the U.S., according to the Spirits Council. Rick Bubenhofer, of marketer-importer Brown-Forman of Louisville, has seen the firm’s Don Eduardo tequila imports jump 65 percent over the last year, and imports of super-premium tequilas increase 28 percent in the same period.
Helping push up those numbers: an increase in the number of new products heading north of the border. The Spirits Council put the 21 tequilas introduced to this country for the first time in 1999 just behind the 22 new entries in the cordials and liqueurs category.
That’s only a drop in the shot glass, however, considering the several hundred tequilas that are produced in central Mexico, where the blue agave plant (agaves are a class of desert plants that includes the century plant; the blue agave is the variety used for tequila) is grown. In fact, last month, Viuda de Romero, which has been making tequila since 1852, introduced an aged version into the U.S., joining several other high-enders like El Tesoro de Don Felipe, Sauza “Galardon” and Chinaco. Already, restaurants throughout Chicago are jammed with dozens of brands.
Adobo Grill has dozens of tequilas and a sommelier, Fernando Guzman, who says the Herradura Seleccion Suprema (at $36 a shot) is popular enough they often go through two bottles a month. At Salpicon, chef/owner Priscila Satikoff lists more than 75 tequilas on the menu, ranging from inexpensive ($6.50 a shot) up to pricier sipping types in the $50-$75 range. “People don’t necessarily hesitate to order them,” says Satikoff.
Now, about that $140 shot.
At the entrance to Topolobampo, a pine cabinet is filled with fanciful bottles. Inside sits a glass-and-pewter decanter holding Cuervo 1800 Coleccion, the amber liquid that costs $140 a shot. Carlos Alferez, general manager at Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, holds the key to the cabinet.
Pouring tawny Cuervo 1800 into a brandy snifter, he urges: “Bring it to room temperature. Put [the snifter] in the palm of your hand and bring it up to body temperature slightly. Swirl [the liquid] and enjoy it. Just sip it and let it work its magic in your mouth. It gives you all the information about the tequila. Is it full bodied and intense? [What] wood was it aged in? How long?”
A vanilla-scented perfume rises from the snifter. A touch of cinnamon nudges in. A hint of almond. Sip it. Just a few drops. Let them travel across the tongue, down the throat. Warmth radiates through your mouth, your head and throat.
Such tequilas are “usually enjoyed after dinner and enjoyed slowly [to] really understand the style of the spirit and what it has to offer as far as agave flavor,” says Alferez. “There are producers that try to create a spirit that is a lot more powerful as far as the agave character and there are others that are trying to create something that is very similar to cognac.”
Fine cognacs, it should be noted, carry hefty price tags. A serving of Remy Martin Louis XIII? Expect to pay upwards of $100.
“People think that tequila is something that you basically drink to catch a quick buzz. People think it’s a cheap spirit,” says Alferez. “Tequila is part of Mexican culture. It’s a part of who we are and how we enjoy life.”
These high-priced sipping tequilas, as well as their less-pricey cousins, all begin in central Mexico, where the blue agave Weber — or agave azul tequilana Weber, as this specific variety of agave is more correctly known — grows, and where the Spaniards introduced distilling in the 16th Century. Production of tequila is limited by law to the entire state of Jalisco (where the famous tequila-producing towns of Tequila, El Arenal and Amatitan are located), as well as parts of the neighboring states of Michoacan, Nayarit, Tamaulipas and Guanajuato, where the blue agave takes 8 to 12 years to reach maturity.
Harvested agave plants — do not confuse them with cactus — are first trimmed of their leaves. Then the heart (or pina) is slow-roasted and crushed, and the juice is extracted, fermented and distilled. If bottled immediately, the tequila is called silver (plata) or white (blanco). Aged from two months up to a year, it becomes tequila reposado (or rested). Age it more than a year in wood casks and it becomes anejo (or aged). By law, tequila must have at least 51 percent blue agave Weber — not any of the other agave varieties. The higher-end tequilas promise 100 percent blue agave.
About a year ago, several factors — a shortage of blue agave, weather problems, a price disputes between growers and producers, and a fungus — came together to prompt headlines in the U.S. and Europe such as “Tequila Prices Under Influence of Agave Shortage” and “Tequila on the Rocks: Why are American bars running out of Mexico’s fiery spirit? Whether or not those headlines play out remains to be seen depending on our thirst for all tequilas, as well as the sipping varieties.
And the ultra-premiums? Those are often hand-crafted. Production is usually limited. Barrels from France or Kentucky, for example, are chosen for the woody characteristics they will impart. Aging is controlled so that the green, earthy agave character comes through (usually with less aging) or is diminished so that the wood-character increases. Often, it comes in a special bottle. —
Alferez often steers tequila newcomers to the reposados or anejos. “They tend to have fewer agave characteristics. They are a lot more enjoyable for someone who is not used to tequila.”
And that $140 shot? Frontera Grill/Topolobampo sells one or two orders a month and has gone through several bottles since they introduced it several years ago. A few of the restaurant’s ultra-premium tequilas, in fact, aren’t sold but, much the way the head of a household might invite a guest to sample a special spirit, Alfarez says, “we give tastes of these tequilas to special customers.”
“The people who have ordered [Cuervo 1800] have been people who have really wanted to try it. It’s been mostly groups of three, four people who have bought it and shared a [two-ounce] portion,” says Alferez. “They want to try it because they are passionate about this spirit.”
