A compendium of all the finest brands of tequila and mezcal and all the best places to drink them.  Pass me that Paloma! Some history and facts below:

  • Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant – a succulent, NOT a cactus as many mistakingly think.
  • The most misunderstood of all the spirits – for some it conjures up images of drunk students shooting cheap tequila with lime and salt to disguise the horrible taste and later throwing it up.
  • For other it evokes images of old men in panchos riding down a dusty street in Mexico with a mariachi band playing in the background.
  • Either way, it is surrounded by many myths, legends, and folklore and as Carmelita Roman, widow of late tequila producer, Jesus Lopez Roman said: “Tequila is Mexico. It’s the only product that identifies us as a culture.”
  • It is mainly produced in the area surrounding the city of Tequila and in the state of Jalisco in Mexico.
  • The Aztecs used to make a fermented beverage from the agave plant called ‘octli’ and later, ‘pulque’.
  • In 1521 the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico. When they ran out of their own brandy they started to distill agave, which would become tequila, North America’s first indigenous distilled spirit.
  • There are three main types of tequila: Blanco (white), Reposado (rested), and Anejo (aged).
  • A tip when buying tequila: make sure they label says 100% agave. This guarantees a high quality tequila that has not been mixed with other spirits and sugars.
  • The word tequila is thought to mean either: “the place of wild herbs”, “the place where they cut” or “the place of work”.
  • My favourite tequila quote by my favourite author: “Now tequila may be the favoured beverage of outlaws but that doesn’t mean it gives them preferential treatment. In fact, tequila probably has betrayed as many outlaws as has the central nervous system and dissatisfied wives. Tequila, scorpion honey, harsh dew of the doglands, essence of Aztec, crema de cacti; tequila, oily and thermal like the sun in solution; tequila, liquid geometry of passion; Tequila, the buzzard god who copulates in midair with the ascending souls of dying virgins; tequila, firebug in the house of good taste; O tequila, savage water of sorcery, what confusion and mischief your sly, rebellious drops do generate!”