Spirit Log: Olmeca Altos Reposado Tequila

It was Black Friday, but I wasn’t looking specifically for Black Friday deals. I just figured I’d see if there was any tequila on Amazon that I could use our Prime membership on – and there was. So delivery is free, instead of the usual £4.50 or £4.95 you have to pay to buy spirits online, and it was also £14 cheaper (at £20) than at any of the other online suppliers. Here it is, the Olmeca Altos Reposado.

It’s only 38% as most tequila seems to be, but it is full agave, which is a minimum requirement for me these days. Aged for 6 to 8 months in American oak ex-bourbon casks, this particular variety is notable because some of the agave used has been juiced using the artisanal tahona method, where a 2 tonne volcanic millstone – carved from one piece of rock – is used to crush the cooked pinas. A full, and quite interesting story of the production is available at altostequila.com, but it looks like the range varies according to the amount of tahona liquid (and possibly other aspects of the production process) incorporated. The basic Olmeca, for example, isn’t full agave, but it does incorporate a portion of tahona liquid, while the more premium Tezon, is certified 100% tahona liquid. So what we’ve got is an intermediate level expression for the brand, that should be decent quality.

I suppose it’s worth asking whether this Tahona method is really the most effective way of getting juice from the cooked agave hearts. There must be an ultimate method, but what it is, I don’t know. For now we’ll just have to assume the tahona one is a good one.

Let’s just say first of all, it is packaged quite beautifully in a square bottle with a small label and a fancy mottling effect. On opening, it transpires that what looks like a fancy wood-topped stopper is actually an oversized screwtop.

As ever, the full agave proved popular with our guests Pablo and Veronica on the night of opening, so were quite easily able to polish off nearly half a bottle. My overall feeling though, is that while this is drinkable and pleasant, with a fresh peach smell prevalent on the nose, it is far too mellow to deliver my favourite aspects of tequila. It should sting a little bit – and that quality seems to be something that dissipates when the spirit has been rested in wood even a brief while.

So next up for me will be a return to the blanco varieties – and after that, I think I’ll have to go the whole hog and try and anejo expression – just to be sure –though I won’t be going all the way up to extra anejo, since you’re looking at £80+ for a 3 year old. For now my preference lies with the blanco full agave varieties anyway. Nevertheless, this would probably make an excellent introduction to tequila for someone who is a little less familiar with the agave sting. And if you can still get it for around £20 (at the time of writing, Amazon UK have it at £23.09 on Prime), it’s definitely worth a punt.

Mi Casca Viejo, su Casca Viejo...

I realised in a dramatic moment, similar to that in a film thriller where an unexpected plot twist is revealed to the protagonist, that I had faked my own death, had my face reconstructed to look like myself, and have been cheating on myself with my own wife since long before the whole death faking, face reconstructing incident… and also that I didn’t have any tequila… so I decided to buy some. It would be useful for the impending poker night, for which I’d been struggling to decide which spirits would have the honour of accompanying me.

Tequila presents an ideal solution; it’s the kind of thing you can drink a lot of and, as it’s a new bottle I wouldn’t be too bothered about making a dent in it.

Bring a Bottle combined with my short term Amazon Prime account to point me in the direction of this 100% agave tequila, Casco Viejo,  which is sadly only 38% alcohol. I’ve seen it hailed online as the 3^rd best selling tequila brand in the world – probably due to its apparent good value – 70cl for £19 on this occasion. There does seem to be a 70% agave version of this one (perhaps an older expression), but the one I purchased on Amazon definitely appeared to say 100% on the bottle and, when it arrived, that was still the case.

I always buy 100% agave these days because, once you’ve tried it, there’s no reason to accept anything less. There are enough affordable brands available in enough outlets, so once you’ve learned that there is a distinction, you’ve no excuse. Nevertheless, tequila is a spirit that I’ve only managed to wade into about calf high at this point, and it doesn’t matter to me if it’s cheap.

A bit of quality research into this one (not too much), revealed that, according to Master of Malt: “it’s definitely suitable for cocktails”.  Well that’s a ringing endorsement if ever I saw one. I wasn’t worried though; I haven’t found a bad full agave tequila yet. Would this be the first?

Well, I can’t say I’m too impressed with the presentation; a stubby bottle with a silvery label and a cheap-ass screw cap. Still, at least that suggests that very few of my nineteen pounds have been spent on aesthetics.

On first taste it seemed decent enough, though I have to admit to being a little disappointed, and convinced that it wouldn’t be troubling el Jimador for top spot in my tequila league table. Things were different on the second tasting however. This time I was washing down some fish and chips, as it revealed a grainy but pleasing texture and a nice dry finish.

A week after the poker night, I was due to attend another, similar event for which tequila would be a useful addition. Phil hadn’t gotten any spirits in for the video games party – an oversight I compared to bringing a bus pass to a gun fight (which seemed to be quite humourous at the time…) – but Gary had also bought tequila; and it was only my reigning favourite, el Jimador – whose bottle looks to have undergone a bit of a refurb since the last time I bought it (last summer). So I’m pleased to be able to say that I was able to conduct a direct comparison.

Both products come in at around £20 for 70cl, so they are the epitome of affordable 100% agave tequilas and as comparable as it is possible for any two products to be. Having gotten used to the Casco Viejo over the last week or so, I decided to reacquaint myself with el Jimador first. Yep, that was pretty much how I remembered it; sharp with a pleasing agave bite. Still definitely worth your 20 notes.

When it came to the Casco Viejo, I was surprised to discover that I liked it even better. There isn’t a massive amount of difference, but with the Casco you’re getting a slightly oilier texture that will make your brain think, “mm, luxurious”. The citrus element is possibly a little more prevalent, while the agave is more muted and has less sting. Overall the flavour is more rounded and it actually reminds me of the Chichicapa mezcal, but a lot cheaper. For the timebeing it has convinced me there’ll be no need to be remortgaging my house to fund further  purchases of expensive, artisanal Mexican spirits. Good tequila can still be had for a fraction of the price.

a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing...

a generic tequila pic... not particularly relevant to the story

Hello everyone. Just a short anecdote this week. I can do brevity too, you know.

Have you ever ordered something you didn’t want as a result of a confusing or poorly thought out drinks menu?

Mrs Cake and I went out on a date on Saturday night, and called into a new tequila bar. We felt like getting hammered, so we thought we’d go for a cocktail and a shot each. So we picked our cocktails and I turned to a page of the menu that was headed, Blanco.

Now, maybe not everyone who might go out to a tequila bar would know, but I knew that unaged tequila is called blanco or white tequila. I did wonder why they didn’t have very many, and why I didn’t recognise any, but nevertheless I picked one and ordered two shots while Mrs Cake went and grabbed a table.

I was a bit confused when the bar man took a bottle from the fridge (who keeps their tequila in the fridge?), but not as confused as Mrs Cake when I arrived at the table carrying two cocktails and a large glass of wine… I’d been too embarrassed to correct my mistake, and the barman had obviously been too distracted to ask why someone would order two shots of wine, and just poured a large glass…

It turns out the tequila list is right at the back of the menu – the logical place, I suppose, if it’s a normal bar or restaurant menu, but this was a tequila bar; the tequila should be featured, right at the front, and the wine should be labelled white fucking wine, not blanco.

I suppose it’s true, sometimes a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

I'm off to see Babes in Toyland now then. I'll probably have a warm up drink before I go. I'm thinking of going hardcore, with the absinthe. Anyways, sorry for no posting this last week. I was very busy. I'll be back next week and I might be exploring some more of the products available at Aldi and Lidl. Until then, you know what to do.

732 Words on Tequila, and then a few more

I’ve been amazed at the things I’ve learned (and found interesting) since applying myself to writing a blog about booze and, more importantly, taking an active interest in experimenting and investigating the delights it can bring. The most recent thing I have become interested in is tequila. I know, I’ve written posts on tequila before here, here and even here, but it has come to my notice that frankly, I have barely even scratched the surface because tequila is surprisingly underappreciated here in the UK.

this tequila wears a sombrero

It started innocuously enough; I thought that since I’d offloaded the last dregs of my Jose Cuervo Gold recently, I could see my way to getting a new bottle. The only brands you ever see in supermarkets are Jose Cuervo and Sierra, so I took a look at The Whisky Exchange, and found that there is actually a whole smorgasbord of different brands available – many for under £20 (plus P&P).

It was time to start working my way through. I had learned some time in the past that tequila is made by fermenting sugars found in the blue agave plant that grows above a certain altitude in Mexico (1500m), and then distilling the resulting wort twice (and sometimes a third time).

Ok, that’s not that interesting. In fact, a ten years younger me would have said, “boor-ring!”, like I did at that party 10 years ago when someone started telling me that whisky gets its colour from the barrels it is aged in. Actually, I didn’t say that out loud, I just found it really boring. No, what’s interesting to me is that cheaper tequilas like your standard Jose Cuervos only use 51% agave, and the rest of their spirit is distilled from cheaper things like molasses. I decided that it would be interesting to see what the real thing tasted like, so this time I would be more discerning, and get something that was 100% agave. To make choosing easier, I’d get the cheapest thing I could find that was 100% agave. All I needed was an excuse to get to a proper booze shop.

And that chance came one Saturday when frankly, I wasn’t feeling on top of the world, and the wife and I had a few jobs to do. I needed some cheering up, and decided we’d call off at Carrington’s in Didsbury on our way to one of our errands in Stretford.

Unfortunately, Carrington’s is more of a wine shop really, but they are still better stocked with spirits than any of your supermarkets. It’s a shame though, that they keep them all out of reach, behind the counter. I approached, and making plain my requirements found they had three bottles that fit the bill. I’d allocated myself a budget of £30 on this occasion, so that eliminated the first one that came in at £38, leaving two at around £25. One was 10p cheaper than the other, but that one was also 2% lighter in alcohol at 38%, so I went for the slightly dearer one until… I noticed that one was only 50cl against the cheaper one’s 70cl. I could have stood there all day, wondering what to do, so I reverted back to my original plan. The extra 20cl made the cheaper tequila significantly cheaper, so that would be my winner. And the winner was… el Jimador – named after the people who cultivate, select and pick the blue agave plants it is made with. To be fair, the other bottle was far more attractive but rules is rules.

£25 is a bit more than I’d been expecting to pay, given the prices at The Whisky Exchange but remember, you have to add £5.49 P&P to the £19.95 that they charge for this particular brand, so it only cost me a matter of pence more.

It was to be a while before I would crack it open as, being a little under the weather, I knew I wouldn’t be able to taste it - I’d been using the preceding evenings to lighten the load of my slightly less premium spirits. Still, the next weekend would be something to look forward to, since I decided I’d crack it open at the poker night that accompanied this year’s end of year golf tournament.

And you can read about that next week.

Before that, it’s the weekend. Tonight I’ll be staying in with the missus, having a drink and watching telly like we do every night, but this time we’re calling it a date, so that makes it special. We’re just excited for the weekend, so that’s fine. Tomorrow on the other hand, is the latest in the long line of pub crawls that could almost make the basis of a flimsy bestselling novel, or a romantic comedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Matthew McConaughey, if pub crawls were romantic. They aren’t; they're about a group of lads getting drunk and talking shit, so if you only see one movie this year, it isn’t going to be that one.  Why do so many movie trailers start with, “This year…”?

This year… Paul has planned a route along the canal that runs through Manchester, so that should be fun.

Whatever you’re up to, have a good one.

Booze Stories part 1: Peach Schnapps, Tequila and me.

Who likes tequila? Who doesn’t like tequila? It will come as no surprise to people who know me that I do like it. Have you ever heard though, someone say, “I used to like tequila/gin/vodka until one day I drank too much and was sick. Now the smell of it makes me feel ill”? I think that’s a common story. With me though, it’s not hard liquor like tequila, gin or vodka; it’s Peach schnapps. 

 Back when I was 18, and living in Newcastle University’s Henderson Hall, my friends and I embarked on a period of drinking tequila – we put our usual 8 cans of Viborg on hold for a few weeks. Each Friday night, before heading out to the Student’s Union, we’d sit in someone’s room, one bottle of Jose Cuervo between two (I think they were 70cl in those days. Now they’re only 50cl), drinking until it was gone. I wouldn’t notice how drunk I was until I had to return to my room to fetch my coat, barrelling down 5 flights of stairs, up 4, then those 4 down again and the other 5 back up, bouncing off walls and giggling all the way. Such fun.

The booze porn at the top of the page there represents what the bottle looked like back then. It doesn’t look like that now.

I think we tried tequila slammers, then we tried necking a shot and biting a slice of lemon, but pretty soon I switched to drinking it straight. I’ve always had sensitive teeth, and after biting those lemons it was three days before I could eat anything of note. Not that I ate a lot in those days. If you still aren’t keen on straight tequila, believe me, you do start to like the taste after a while. As an added bonus, drinking it straight made people think I was hardcore.

Anyway, this continued for a while until one week our group won a bottle of Archers Peach Schnapps [insert a photo] at the pub quiz. We elected to save it until Friday night, and add it to our Friday night drinking routine.

Now, I wasn’t much of a drinker before I went to university, but clearly by the time we’d started drinking tequila I’d done enough training to be able to handle half a bottle in an hour or so. Clearly though, that was my limit, since my seventh of a bottle of peach schnapps was enough to tip me over the edge. I didn’t make it out that night. And instead of marvelling at how the effects of tequila didn’t seem to take effect until I stood up to go out… I couldn’t stand up (or go out), and spent about an hour sat in a doorway, watching the world spin round and round. 

Eventually a couple of people helped me to my room and went out without me. I was sober by 1 o’ clock that morning, wide awake and bored. I think the next morning I was supposed to go and get a tattoo, but unlike me, my friend Jon had made it out to the Student's Union, and was still hungover, so we didn't go, and I never did get round to getting that tattoo. 

The essence of nausea and peach schnapps lingered for quite a while, and left a psychological imprint that I’ve never quite shaken off. So I’ve never been able to touch it since. No one seems to like that stuff, mind.

How about you though? Do you like Peach Schnapps? What’s your Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion, and is there a story behind it?

That’s all from me for now. I should be back on Friday with the usual pre-weekend post, and there might even be another article. Until then though, enjoy yer booze and see you later.