A Mountain Of Crushed Ice

As soon as i saw the new tequila brand bottle in our shop a week ago i wanted to buy it. Its a real beautiful bottle and the straw color of the tequila looked promising. This tequila has not been sold here before so i didnt know anything about it more than what i could read on the description which sounded good enough to give it a try: “flavorful, barrel, notes of cactus fig, grass, straw and gum.

So i got myself a bottle. It does have a rich clean agave flavor and is a bit oily with hints of vanilla. Flavorful and just a little bit fiery. I really like it, and the rich nose has some sweet vanilla too.

Reposado means rested, and the tequila has been rested between 2-12 months, this particular tequila for 9 months, in french limousin oak, american oak and mexican encino.

XQ Tequila is produced by Casa Tequila, a family owned Tequila Producer Company based in the hart of the Tequila region.

TEQUILA

Tequila is based on the agave plant and made mostly in the area surrounding the city of Tequila. This region has a rich volcanic soil that is well suited for the growing of the blue agave. Tequila can be produced anywhere in Mexico though.The city of Tequila is the place where tequila first was produced, in the 16th century. Before that a fermented beverage from the agave plant, first called octli, later renamed pulque, was made by the aztecs. When the spanish arrived to this region, in 1521, they began to distill this agave drink.

Tequila is divided in two basic categories which are called mixtos and 100% agave. The tequila blanco or plata has bold and more harsh flavors than the reposado or anejo which are more complex and smoother and as these has been aged in casks they also has taken up some of the flavors of the wood which usually is oak.

There are five categories of tequila:

White or blanco/plata - is bottled right after distillation or aged less than 2 months in oak barrels.

The gold or ouro is un-aged blanco tequila which is blended with rested or aged tequilas. Often colored with caramel as is the case with certain rums, and also containing added sugar-based syrups, glycerin and/or oak extract.

Reposado (rested) tequila is aged a minimum of two months and up to a year in oak barrels.

Anejo is aged tequila, between 1-3 years in oak barrels.

Extra anejo is as the name says, extra aged, a minimum of 3 years also in oak barrels.

Tequila reposado get its rich and complex flavors from being rested in large barrels or casks and the oak used is usually american, french or canadian, usually white oak. There also are some producers that char their wood to achieve a smokey flavor.

The anejos are usually rested in barrels from bourbon distilleries in the US, France, or Canada that have already been used for reposados which gives the anejo tequilas more complex flavors and dark color.

And it`s still a common misconception that some tequilas contain a worm in the bottle..

Mezcal is a Mexican distilled spirit made from agave plants and assosiated with the state of Oaxaca.The term mezcal generally refers to all agave-based distilled liquors that are not tequila. Whenever i get a chance, i definetily want to try some mezcal, i`ve heard nothing but good about it and there`s a excellent post on mezcal over at drinkdogma.

So, back to my new tequila, the next thing i did was starting to experiment with mixing cocktails, and here are three. Two of them were made when i was trying out my date and fig syrup and these were named in Mixoloseum by Brett “thebureau” (El Oasis) and Camper English ( Jalisco Sunset) thank you guys!

Camper had me laughing good when he came up with the following statement:

“[camper] you know tiare, if it didnt take you 2 hours to decide on each drink name you could probably get a lot of stuff done in life.”

MEXICAN SUN

2 oz Tequila reposado

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz agave syrup

1 oz fresh pineapple juice

Dash hibiscus grenadine

Garnish lime wedge and pineapple leaf.

Shake, strain and pour in old fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish lime wedge.

EL OASIS

2 oz tequila reposado

0.5 oz date & fig syrup

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

2 oz fresh orange juice

Shake, strain and pour over crushed ice in a rocks glass. Garnish fig, mint and

(optional) 1 tsp liquid from homemade maraschino cherry jar topping the ice.

DATE AND FIG SYRUP

I took 1:1 ( 1/2 cup each maybe) water and raw sugar (Billington`s) and 5 figs that i crushed into the syrup, and did the same with 4 dates. I made a small batch of syrup, appr 1 cup. This is not a scientific recipe so the measurements may be tried. Then heat until sugar is dissolved and let slowly cool. I also added just a very small pinch of date paste to strengthen the flavor a bit. Bottle in clean bottle. The syrup is quite flavorful but not overly so, still i wouldn`t use it in drinks with delicate flavors.

JALISCO SUNSET

This drink is similar to El Oasis, but a more sour.

2 oz tequila reposado

0.5 oz date & fig syrup

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

2 oz fresh ruby grapefruit juice

Dash hibiscus grenadine.

Shake, strain and pour over crushed ice in a rocks glass. Add a small dash hibiscus grenadine. Garnish grapefruit wedge and mint.