The Truth About Tequila - Everything You Need to Know

We have wonderful neighbors down here in Florida, most of whom are transplants like us from all around the country. One of those neighbors happens to be a tequila aficionado, so I co-opted him to help me create a blog post dedicated to the wonderful world of tequilas! Here’s what I learned from Matt, the intrepid tequila master!

A selection of additive-free Tequilas, ready for tasting!

I absolutely love Tequila! It’s the base spirit for one of my favorite cocktails, the margarita. But I haven’t really ever taken the time to do a deep dive to learn more about this intriguing elixir. Enter Matt Mendelson, one of our neighbors who moved down to Sarasota from Long Island, NY this past spring. Matt and his wife Kathy are wonderful human beings but even better, Matt has a liquor collection that rivals any I have ever seen – and he knows a thing or two about Tequila!

So, in a shameless attempt to get him to share some of his Tequilas with me, I asked him to help me create a blog post about Tequila, which would include a guided Tequila tasting from the master – he kindly obliged! Matt brought over eight wonderful Tequilas to taste – two each of the four different categories of Tequila that we tasted in pairs to compare and contrast the different styles made within each category. But before we got busy tasting the Tequilas, I had a few questions for Matt.

First, I asked him to share the five things everyone should know about tequila. Here’s what he told me:

• Tequila is a Mexican spirit. In order for it to be called Tequila, it has to be made in five specific Mexican states; it must be made with blue agave; and must be approved by Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council.

• To make tequila, the agave plants are harvested by hand and then cooked to create a chemical reaction that breaks down the sugars in the plant. Then, the agave juice is pressed out of the plant and fermented and distilled.

• There are four main categories/types of Tequila. They include Blanco Tequila, which is unaged and spends no more than two months in steel tanks before bottling; Reposado Tequila, which is slightly aged Tequila that has spent at least two months, but less than one year in wood barrels; Anejo Tequila, which has spent at least one year in barrels, but less than three; and Extra Anejo Tequila, which has spent three or more years aging in barrels.

• Tequila is best enjoyed on its own, sipped from a glass straight or over ice. This is also the best way to truly learn about the different styles of Tequila and understand & appreciate the unique flavor profiles of this incredibly complex spirit. If you choose to use Tequila in a cocktail, your best options are Blanco or Reposado Tequilas.

• The best Tequilas, those that are the purist in flavor and truest to the base spirit, are ones that are additive-free. Some of the most popular Tequilas (think George Clooney’s Casamigos for example) include additives that can fundamentally change the flavor or aroma of the base spirit (the additives cannot exceed 1% of the total volume of the Tequila). The most common Tequila additives come in four categories: sugar-based syrup to make the Tequila sweeter; caramel coloring to make the Tequila darker; oak extract to make the Tequila taste like it was aged longer; and glycerin to provide a more full-bodied mouthfeel to the Tequila.

I was really intrigued by Matt’s comments on additives, and the fact that he chose to bring only additive-free Tequilas to the tasting, so we ended up having a somewhat philosophical discussion about the pros and cons of additives in both Tequilas and wine. After a lot of back and forth, I think we settled on the notion that additives, in and of themselves, are not inherently bad. For example, I mentioned that winemakers often use additives like sulfur to kill unwanted bacteria, or egg whites to clarify the wine and improve its appearance in the bottle and glass. Other additives that winemakers use to improve the quality of wine include sugar (to modify alcohol levels) or acid to control the Ph levels in wine.

We agreed that using additives to fine-tune the flavor and/or quality of a spirit or wine and address small flaws due to factors outside of the control of the producer (think a tough growing season for grapes where temperatures were far below normal, and the grapes didn’t get the opportunity to ripen as fully as they needed to) was a good thing. We also agreed that additives need to be distinguished from choices that the producer might want to make to create a different flavor profile for the spirit or wine using different production methods (think aging wine in new oak barrels to get that oaky, buttery flavor and rich mouthfeel so many wine drinkers crave from their Chardonnay).

Our aversion to additives was focused on instances where additives were being used to cover up serious flaws in the quality of the base spirit or wine – kind of like trying to put lipstick on a pig. And even worse, when such additives are used to make a substandard base product taste better, and then that product is sold at an exorbitant price. This happens all too often with celebrity-produced spirits and wines that often make heavy use of additives and are sold for ridiculous prices, just because they can.

Finally, we both agreed that if you really want to learn about and fully understand the complexities and different flavor profiles of Tequila, sipping the pure, additive-free versions of this spirit is really the only way to do it correctly. Otherwise, the true character of the spirit won’t be able to shine through the changes in flavor, color, aroma, and mouthfeel introduced by the additives. That’s the reason Matt brought only additive-free Tequilas for us to sample for our Tequila tasting.

Next week I’ll continue this homage to Tequila by describing our Tequila tasting and what we both learned from it. In the meantime, treat yourself to a small pour of a nice tequila on ice, or if you don’t have nicer Tequila in the house, mix yourself a margarita and enjoy!