First produced in limited quantities back in 2000, 1800 Tequila’s Milenio is now returning to shelves in a second edition of their wildly successful super-premium tequila. Fine Blue Weber Agave undergoes an extensive extra-aging process before…
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“The patience is in the fields,” explains Olmeca Tequila’s master distiller Jesus Hernández on our recent trip to their Jalisco distillery, where we learned firsthand how they produce their …
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Tequila often gets a bad rap for its association with shots, excessive partying and the resulting hangover. Dobel Tequila, multi-aged and distilled from 100% blue agave, is changing that. It’s a premium sipper and the dynamics…
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We tour the LA distillery home to the world’s largest collection of organic spirits
Cocktail enthusiasts gave a collective cheer when word got out that GreenBar Collective—the LA-based brand known for its collection of top-notch organic licquors and sustainably-crafted spirits—was moving into bigger digs. With more space to accommodate its growing menu of infused vodkas, complex gins and spiced rums (the only exception…
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LA bartender Matt Biancaniello whips up a sweet summer cocktail with a new liqueur
From Heaven Hill Distilleries, makers of Elijah Craig whiskey and Rittenhouse Straight Rye, comes Mariposa, the first agave nectar liqueur on the market. Mariposa, which is concocted from 100% agave tequila and premium vodka, is named for the Spanish word for butterfly, paying tribute to the Monarch species indigenous to the Tequila region of Mexico. With an aroma of gardenias and rose oil, the liqueur makes for a highly mixable ingredient for sweet cocktails. For those wishing to limit or eliminate processed sugars from their diets, agave has become a popular alternative, and bartenders have found agave to be a helpful substitute for simple syrup and honey.
Bartender Matt Biancaniello of the Library Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel in LA created a special cocktail with Mariposa that incorporates the flavors of summer. Biancaniello fills his bar with the freshest ingredients from no fewer than three local farmers markets every week, and strives to create new combinations from seasonal flavors he finds. Inspired by the Nicholas Family Farms blueberry juice, Biancaniello bucked his usual habit for intricate, ingredient-rich cocktails to blend a simple recipe that can be easily replicated at home.
2 ounces Mariposa
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1 ounce fresh blueberry juice
Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice. Shake and strain into an Old Fashioned glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with fresh blueberries and a slice of lime. (Alternative options: pomegranate or grape juice would also work well with the floral notes in the Mariposa.)
Mariposa is currently launching across the US this summer, and will be available for $25.
The 10-year journey of an ultra-aged tequila, from agave plant to hand-painted bottle
Far from the bars where rowdy patrons slam down shots of pale liquid with a lick of lime and sprinkle of salt lives ultra-aged tequila, meant to be savored like a glass of cognac. In the case of Grand Mayan Tequila the depth of the extra añejo dark amber spirit reveals notes of nuts and chocolate, and a smooth, lingering finish.
Grand Mayan begins its 10-year journey in the agave fields of Jalisco, Mexico, where the agave tequilana weber is grown for 5-7 years before being harvested. The hearts of the plant are then slow-cooked in stone ovens before they go through a slow natural fermentation process. Extra care is taken in the distillation and filtering process, which takes place at the famous La Cofradia distillery. The liquid ages in American oak casks for at least three years before being bottled in their signature ceramic bottle celebrating the history of Mexico.
Created by artisans in Mexico City, the lovely, diminutive decanter is hand-painted with blue flowers and orange designs—an appropriately elaborate vessel for the precious liquid within. The company produces only 3,000 litres of the spirit per year, which has become highly coveted by tequila connoisseurs for its flavor, rarity and special presentation. We experienced the enthusiasm firsthand during a recent visit to K&L Wine Merchants, where mere mention of Grand Mayan received quick notes of approval from every staff member within earshot. Naturally, we felt compelled to pour ourselves a shot and were able to savor it slowly, no lime or salt necessary.
An experience with triple-distilled tequila at its birthplace
What once was passed over as fuel for Spring Break bacchanals, tequila’s reputation has finally caught up with its history—as long and storied as most other spirits on your liquor shelf. When crafted by an expert distillery with 100% blue agave, it holds its own as a standalone sipping beverage, as well the main ingredient in a variety of cocktails
To learn more about what goes into fine tequila, Milagro invited us to their operation, located in the drink’s birthplace of Jalisco, Mexico. A culture deeply rooted in tequila—both professionally and socially—its reverence occasionally mirrors the region’s Catholic roots. (The Milagro distillery’s Catholic church sits directly across from a multi-storied decorative tequila bottle.)
From their private agave fields to distillery to bottling plant, the whole process takes place in the Jalisco highlands. Once jimadores, armed with a sharpened coa de jima, hand-harvest the agave plants, the agave is stripped of its sharp spikes down to the pineapple-looking core, aptly-named the piña.
Next, the raw material goes into clay ovens, where they’re slow-roasted for three hours on volcanic rock. During the process, the plant softens and takes on a syrupy sweet flavor that makes an appearance as a dessert on many a Mexican dinner table. Once the juice is pressed and extracted, the portion that isn’t used as agave nectar is combined with Milagro’s self-professed most reliable employee: a proprietary yeast that has been meticulously cultured for 10 years.
Aside from an exceptionally smooth tequila, what separates Milagro is its tripe-distillation process. Whereas most brands of tequila are double pot-distilled a recent trend has moved towards triple distilling, despite the fact that it risks stripping the tequila of its unique flavors and rendering it closer to vodka. Milagro, instead, created their own third distillation process using a stainless-steel column still that softens the tequila’s head and tail while retaining its agave-forward flavor.
The resulting alcohol is either bottled straight from the still (Silver) or it undergoes an aging process in the same French and American oak barrels that give whiskey its character. Once barreled, it ages anywhere from six to ten months (for a Reposado) or 18 months to three years (for an Añego), which lends an increased flavor profile and darker hue.
The finished product ends up in either one of Milagro’s hand-painted bottles or a blown-glass creation designated for Select Barrel Reserves. All the iterations of the tequila qualify as a sippable compliment to a summer cocktail that holds its own against any other high-end spirit and represents the scores of rich, complex tequilas that have their name sullied by bottom-shelf swill.
Our video on the craftsmanship and history behind our favorite sipping tequila
In our latest video we went to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to talk to the brains behind Casa Dragones tequila. The world’s only tequila designed for sipping, we learned how Casa Dragones gets its super smooth flavor and how craftsmanship is a cornerstone of the brand.
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