Tequila’s rise in recognition has been one thing of an underdog’s story. Thirty years in the past, most drinkers knew the spirit solely as an ingredient in a Margarita or a party-starting shot. Even 20 years in the past, because the up to date cocktail revolution was in full tilt, just a few manufacturers of tequila, reminiscent of Herradura, El Tesoro and Jose Cuervo, had been out there to shoppers outdoors of Mexico.
Propelling the spirit to international recognition was no easy feat. It took years of intelligent advertising and marketing campaigns, commerce exhibits and pop cultural cachet—from George Clooney founding Casamigos to Avión performing as an integral a part of HBO’s hit sequence Entourage. As of 2021, in keeping with the Worldwide Wine & Spirit Competitors, agave spirits had been the second fastest-growing spirits class, trailing solely premixed cocktails. Based on the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, gross sales of tequila and mezcal climbed 30.1 % year-over-year to $5.2 billion, with studies indicating that they’re gunning for vodka’s crown because the most-sold spirit within the U.S.
For sure, tequila is now firmly entrenched inside the mainstream. With new manufacturers—a lot of them celebrity-owned—launching on a seemingly each day foundation, the class is within the midst of an unprecedented growth. To assist filter by means of the noise, we surveyed 10 bartenders from all over the world, asking for his or her go-to tequilas for mixing.
For many blended drinks, blanco tequila is the usual as a result of it “tends to be agave-forward, with distinguished notes of citrus and pepper that bode very properly for shaken cocktails,” says Andrea Grujic, bartender at Brooklyn’s Fandi Mata. “I at all times search for one with the ‘100% de agave’ mark on the bottle, and I at all times guarantee that it’s a tequila that hasn’t been sweetened and doesn’t include any type of components.”
For Liana Oster, bar director at Aspect Hustle at The NoMad Lodge London, regional variations amongst particular manufacturers swimsuit sure cocktails higher than others. “If I need to mess around with a blanco tequila that boasts extra floral and delicate notes, I lean in the direction of one thing from the Highlands,” she says, referring to bottles from Patrón, Cazadores or Tapatio. “If I needed one thing a bit extra herbaceous, earthy and inexperienced, I’d favor the Lowlands,” reminiscent of variations by Cascahuín or Maestro Dobel.
