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.
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| 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.
