What keeps me passionated in the market of beverages is, that there is still something new to explore.
I thought I got a good overview of Tequila. Sure I am no more a bartender and neither a beverage manager - and cannot keep track of all latest "lit-brands".
On the other side, I thought that I am pretty solid with the production of Tequila and what makes good and what doesn't make good tequila. Boy was I wrong.
For anyone who knows reasonably well about spirits and tequila, the point, that 100% agave tequila is better than mixtos (which are a mixture between >51% sugars fermented from agave and >49% other sugars (normally sugar cane) was really clear to me.
However I stumbled upon the method of Acid-Thermal Hydrolysis on Tequilamatchmaker.com.
As I haven't heard about it, I googled it and found on longislandloutequila.com this very passionate comment about the process:
DIFFUSER- This next procedure is one that people need to learn about, and then learn to stay away from. It's important to know which brands use this procedure, called a diffuser. This method is often described as a 'modern' or an 'efficient procedure', as they don't like to advertise the use of a diffuser, and I'm not surprised why. Diffusers usually are made by a Spanish company named Tomsa Destil, and they look like large storage containers. This method normally doesn't even cook the agave pinas in the process of making tequila. A diffuser is the ultimate industrialized and efficient, mass produced agave soul-killing method of quickly producing tequila often within one day. This method of using this multimillion-dollar massive machine, called a diffuser, takes the soul away from the agave, kills most of the natural flavors and in my opinion, produces a bland, flat, boring, vodka like, minty, medicinal, fake and horrible tasting tequila. A diffuser is an industrialized mass production machine setup, that utilizes the fastest and most efficient procedures, stripping away the essence of the agave in the process. This is used to basically make quick, normally cheap, junk tequila- that at best, is suitable for mixing only, in my opinion. Although Casa Dragones is a brand that is ridiculously expensive, but made in this very same way, it has great marketing and promotion, and has placed itself at the top echelon of diffuser tequila...read more
Since I am reading and learning about spirits and tequila, I never heard about this Diffuser method and about Acid-Thermal Hydrolysis.
However I was slightly surprised about the big difference in quality when it comes to tequilas even from the same distillery (and even if both tequilas are 100% agave tequilas).
For example El Jimador - which is 100% agave - in my eyes passable, but not great and Herradura Plata, which is a real enjoyable tequila. Obviously the Herradura is more expensive - but both tequilas are blancos (hence minimal aged - the Herradura for sure a bit more aged than most other blancos) - but there is definitely a huge quality difference. Now it makes sense.
So here you have got it. I am sure, that I didn't broke any news for tequila buffs. But for the rest of us bar-people, who know some brands and like to consume one or the other, I hope that I could point to the right direction.
Do you like to get my opinion about the controversy? Comment down below!
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