@darkuncle @tess @Alice
Oh, definitely! A lot of tequila is sold basically to be mixed into margarita mixes so they can be a bit iffy when tried alone. I'm not an expert by any means, but this is what I found out while trying to work things out. (Tequila and Mezcal are the same thing. You just get to call yourself "tequila" if it's made in a specific area.)
- Stick with Silver. There are good aged tequila, but a lot of them taste like a wood shop to me, so I skip them.
- From what I understand, if you don't roast the agave right, you either get the "medicinal" taste that Alice noted, or you get something more acrid. The acrid stuff does better in wood, so some distilleries put that in their Silver as well. (That's why you see a lot of tequila served with lime.)
- A "good" tequila has subtle sweet floral tones followed by a peppery bite. The pepper is somewhere between jalapeno and black pepper. Not aggressive, but definitely noticeable. This is why it pairs well with citrus like Lemonade or ideally, fresh orange juice.
The brands that I like (in no certain order) are:
- Codigo (they offer a sampler pack, if you just want to try it out.) The silver is best, but the Rosa isn't bad, and the Anejo is tolerable. I'd probably still mix it, but YMMV.
- Luna de Jalisco This one is fairly mellow, but definitely has the floral tones. It's very nice as a sipping tequila and goes well with things like chicken and cheese.
- Casamigos Yes, this is one of those Celebrity Boozes, but it's honestly pretty good. It's light and goes well with things like seafood. Also mixes really well with fresh squeezed orange juice.
- Gran Centenario This one can be a bit hit-or-miss with some folk? It's say the others are better, but this one is still very smooth and balanced. Unlike the others, this seems to have good years and not so great years, so it's less of a mix. You can try the smaller bottle version if they have it and see.
One thing that also really helped us was that we went to a tequila bar and talked with the barkeep. She was amazing and really knew her stuff. She's the one that taught me what to look for. She served more "tasters" which was way less than a full shot so we didn't feel like we were wasting anything. You may want to see if there's a good one year y'all and see if that might help.
