Tequila
Also known as: agave spirit
In short
Tequila is Mexico's agave spirit: made from the blue Weber agave and named after the town of Tequila. We explain the difference to mezcal, the age categories from blanco to añejo and the classics.
In depth
What is tequila?
Tequila is distilled from the blue Weber agave and may only be produced in certain regions of Mexico, first of all Jalisco. The spirit is named after the town of Tequila. Two categories share the shelf: 100 percent agave, made only from agave sugar, and mixto with at least 51 percent agave.
Agave takes patience
The blue agave matures for several years before it is harvested. Then the agave hearts, the piñas, are baked, shredded, fermented and distilled. From the field to the bottle, several years pass.
Tequila or mezcal?
Roughly speaking, tequila is a kind of mezcal, but by far not every mezcal is a tequila: mezcal may be distilled from many agave varieties and in further regions of Mexico, and traditionally the piñas are baked in earth ovens, which gives the smoky notes. And the worm in the bottle? It counts as marketing, not as a sign of quality.
Age categories
- Blanco: young and unchanged, the pure agave character
- Reposado: rested, between two months and one year
- Añejo: at least one year in the cask
- Extra Añejo: at least three years in the cask
Classics with tequila
Margarita, paloma and tequila sunrise. The tequila sunrise shows the opposite of a float: the grenadine sinks to the bottom and rises like the sun when stirred.
Remember this one
"Gin brings the juniper, rum the sugarcane, whisky the cask, vodka the purity, tequila the agave."
At our lounge
Margarita or neat: ask our team which tequila fits your taste.