Tequila, our favorite spirit!
Obviously, for our Padre Azul family, tequila is by far the best spirit in the world! It’s delicious flavor, the endless possibilities of making creative drinks with it and many more reasons! Now, we are going to explain to you our five main reasons why we love tequila!
Our 5 reasons why you should drink tequila:
- Because it’s the national beverage of Mexico
- Because it’s named after the town of Tequila
- because it’s produced in Mexico
- Because it’s made from the blue agave plant
- Because it’s fun to do a tequila tasting with friends
Because it’s the national beverage of Mexico
First, tequila is the national beverage of Mexico! Basically, tequila is present all the time. It represents the Mexican culture and lifestyle perfectly and is consumed by locals for any occasion. Be it a holiday, a family celebration or just the end of the day, there is always time for a glass of tequila. Nonetheless, there are several more alcoholic beverages that are made in Mexico, like the big brother of tequila, the infamous mezcal, the traditional pulque or Sotol. Tequila is the most famous one and is celebrated on National Tequila Day on July 24th each year in many countries all around the world!
It’s named after the town of Tequila
Second, tequila has a long history that can be traced back to ancient times when indigenous people produced a fermented alcoholic drink from the juice of agave plants. Later, the Spanish conquerors brought the alembic still into the country and started to distill the indigenous drink. This led to the development of the first mezcal. As time proceeded, producers from and around the town of Tequila, in the state of Jalisco, started to adopt the production procedure and figured out that their product tastes different than what they were used to. So, they named their new spirit after its hometown – Tequila.
Because it’s produced in Mexico
Third, tequila can only be produced in Mexico. Yet not all states are allowed to distill tequila but just five of them which are: Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Guanajuato, and Tamaulipas. Nonetheless, approximately 80% of all tequila is produced in the state of its hometown, Jalisco, and almost two-thirds of the agave fields are located in that state as well. Therefore, tequila has a protected denomination of origin, which means that there is a law that says tequila can only be produced in these states according to its specific regularities. They rule which methods are allowed to produce tequila and regulate all details of its production process. For example, one regulation requires manufacturers to only distill tequila based on blue agave.
Because it’s made from the blue agave plant
Next, the raw material used for tequila is the coolest in the whole world of spirits—it’s the agave! But not all of them, only the blue agave. But what is an “agave”? The plant looks similar to an aloe vera, but it isn’t. Instead, the agave is a succulent as it holds water in its sharp and thorny leaves. The agave is native to Mexico and takes up to 12 years to achieve full maturity. During this period, the plant grows on endless agave fields, which looks epic and is worth a visit! If the blue agave doesn’t get harvested for tequila production, it can also grow for a few centuries until it finally grows its trunk with seeds on it and dies after many centuries – that’s why the agave is called the century plant!
Because it’s fun to do a tequila tasting with friends
Last but not least, drinking tequila is fun but sipping it in good company with your friends and family. We recommend a tequila tasting where everyone samples different tequilas together. There are no strict rules on how to conduct such a tasting, but here are a few ideas on how to compare your spirits:Â
Every participant brings a bottle of tequila, wrapped up in aluminum foil (blind tasting) and you try to figure out which type or brand the tequila is from or you line up different tequilas from the same category, such as several Blancos, and taste the differences between them or you just try some bottles of a single brand and see how you like it! For this reason, we came up with the Padre Azul Tasting Set, where you find our Blanco, Reposado and Anejo, but also our Xiaman Mezcal all in one package.
We just love tequila, do you?
In summary, tequila is one of the most versatile spirits in the world! It can be enjoyed and shared with friends and loved ones, it can be sipped pure or mixed in a fine cocktail, and it can have a simple or complex flavor profile – we love all variations of it!
