Try This: El Tesoro Tequila & Captain Morgan Black

For your weekend enjoyment I would like to recommend two spirits that may just knock your socks off. At the very least, they're something new to try.

El Tesoro de Don Felipe Tequila

One is actually a portfolio of tequilas from El Tesoro de Don Felipe. The full line includes the usual: blanco (Platinum), reposado, and anejo. All of them have this fantastic natural agave flavor that I look for in a great tequila. El Tesoro comes from Los Altos, those Jalisco highlands that produce the sweeter tequilas and all are great for mixing and sipping. Beyond the taste, my favorite part of this portfolio is that they are all priced within $10 of each other so you can upgrade and mix without the financial guilt. Read the full review...

Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum

The other spirit worth mentioning is Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum. This is a classic blackstrap rum, all luscious, dark, and thick, with the Captain's twist of spices. The dominate spices are clove and cassia bark, though you will find anise, vanilla, chocolate and even more notes depending what you mix it with. Also, while this one can be used in most any rum cocktail, you will also want to keep it in mind as a whiskey substitute. Read the full review...

Happy sipping!

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Spring Fling: Tamarind & Tequila

Today's Spring Fling is a little drink I have been playing with lately and I think it is ready for an unveiling. It is, quite simply, Tamarind & Tequila. Okay, so there is a little more to the drink than tamarind and tequila, but those are the basic flavors and they always work well together.

Essentially, this drink uses a few sweet ingredients to balance the natural sour flavor of the tamarind and raw agave taste of a good blanco tequila. The tamarind ingredient I chose to use is a tamarind nectar because it not only mixes well in stirred and shaken drinks, but it is readily available (look in the juice aisles). Jumex is the nectar that I can find locally (Goya makes a fine nectar as well) and it comes in a 12 ounce can, posing a freshness problem if you are making fewer than 8 drinks at one time. My solution is to store the remainder in recycled glass bottles, with the small club soda and ginger ale bottles being my first choice.

Beyond that, this drink is very easy to make and is excellent to serve alongside Mexican cuisine.

Tamarind & Tequila recipe...

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Release of My New Book: Hola Tequila!

I have very exciting news that I would like to pass along... last year I spent some time writing a book and it is now available. The title is !Hola Tequila!, and as the name implies it is all about our favorite Mexican distilled spirit.

Photo Courtesy: Sellers Publishing, Inc.

• 90 tequila cocktail and shooter recipes (new concoctions and common favorites with a twist)
• Setting up a tequila-centered bar
• Tequila styles, production, and history explained
• Photographs by my husband, Shannon Graham

What I tried to do in this book is to take the approach that I often do on this website: encourage the curious drinker to explore, get out of their routine, and find for themselves what they enjoy, not necessarily what everyone else thinks they should drink.

I do hope that you enjoy this new read and that it inspires you to get creative with tequila.

• Learn more about !Hola Tequila! in my Bio

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Tequila Sunrise Margarita

The sunrise effect that makes the Tequila Sunrise so special is lost in this Margarita that takes its name, but the flavor is not. Because this is a blended cocktail it is impossible to layer the grenadine so it is right there in the mix and leaves its sweet pomegranate flavor behind. I cut the sour mix in this recipe because the grenadine is already there for a sweetener and it could go down even more depending on your taste, replacing it with fresh lemon juice is another option too. That is another reason I like to use a premium blanco tequila here, reposados tend to make too rich of a cocktail.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz tequila
• 1/2 oz triple sec
• 1/2 oz grenadine
• 1 oz orange juice
• 1/2 oz sour mix
• 1 cup ice
• lime wheel for garnish
• salt for rimming

Preparation:

1. Pour the ingredients into a blender.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour contents into a chilled margarita glass rimmed with salt.
4. Garnish with the lime wheel.

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Maestro Dobel Diamond Tequila

The Bottom Line

Maestro Dobel Diamond Tequila is a fascinating aged tequila that looks like an extremely clear silver tequila. It embodies the richness and wood flavor of the Reposado, Anejo and Extra-Anejo tequilas which create the blend and the spirit's clarity is due to the proprietary filtration. What this tequila is is a fine sipping experience, one of the best available for under $100 dollars, and it is truly the epitomy of a luxury tequila. The trouble is in trying to find a bottle as Maestro Dobel Diamond is available in "extremely limited quantities."

Pros

• Superiorly smooth tequila.
• The taste of aging and the clean look of a silver tequia.
• Fantastic sipping tequila worthy of utter enjoyment.
• Truly a luxury vodka that is worth every cent.

Cons

Description

• Tequila blended with Reposado (aged 15 months), Anejo (aged 24 months) and Extra-Anejo (aged 36 months).
• Produced in Jalisco, Mexico
• 100% agave tequila
• Imported & Distributed by Proximo Spirits
• Released August, 2008
• Retails for $74.99/750mL bottle
• 40% alc/volume (80 proof)
• Initial release: available in Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee and Atlanta establishments and online.

Guide Review - Maestro Dobel Diamond Tequila

The tagline for Maestro Dobel Diamond Tequila is "the first-ever diamond tequila." It's a phrase used to describe the similarities between the precious stone and this precious tequila. The suggestion goes that the four C's can be used to describe the clarity, complexity, crispness and craftsmanship of the spirit. This is a very accurate because Maestro Dobel is an extremely fine tequila and deserves this sort of recognition.

The "clarity" of the tequila is due to a special filtering system which rids the spirit of both its congeners and the color typical of aged tequilas. "Complexity" refers to the three traditionally aged tequilas in the blend and "crispness" to the quality which is attributed to the hand-selected agave plants grown in Jalisco's lowlands. "Craftsmanship" is a salute to the Tequila Maestros who are behind each small batch of the tequila being produced.

Maestro Dobel is nothing less than spectacular and is perfect for sipping straight, chilling, on the rocks or in very clean tequila cocktails like the Tequini or Margarita (not the myriad of frozen, overly fruity ones, but the original). The Crafty Maestro and Dobel Spicy Chill are two of the great original cocktails for this tequila and are also worth trying.

Tasting Notes:
The aroma holds subtle, baked agave with the slightest sweetness mixed with earthy aspects. The palate is full bodied and super smooth with complex and bold oak and vanilla and butterscotch notes with a little herbal spice balanced by agave sweetness. It finishes quick with sweet honey and a little more of a spicy snap.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

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Two Tequila...

What are you drinking today? May I suggest a tequila cocktail? It is National Tequila Day and it wouldn't feel right if I didn't pass on something about tequila. It's a good excuse and today I chose two specific drinks to show off that seem fitting for these hot days.

El Vocho
Photo Courtesy: Milagro Tequila

A quick side note... Regarding the excessive heat, please keep in mind that alcohol and heat are not a good combination. Water is good for you.

The first is a sort of 'modern classic' and a simply pleasurable sipper. El Diablo is the drink, just tequila, creme de cassis, lime, and ginger beer.? It's a little sweet, a little spicy, and a little tangy with this earthy background. Quite interesting if you sit back and really notice what is going on in the drink.

El Diablo is also fun to play with visually. In the section on the drink in How to Booze, Jordan Kay and Marshall Altier write about options to fill lulls in time with this drink. It includes the always fun dripping of the thick liqueur down a bar spoon visual and pressing a lime to use the shell as a floating boat.

The other drink there bears thought and is worthy of adding to one's drink arsenal is El Vocho from Milagro Tequila. Think of it as a tropical Sangrita with a Mexican kick. It's a shot of Milagro's reposado chased with a shooter of jacked up pineapple juice. When tomato is too heavy, this is a fantastic option.

Though it's at the other end of the spectrum from El Diablo, I love using these two together as examples. Both are an explosion of flavor? and take 'sweet and spicy' to two extremes. In one you have rich berry and zingy ginger and in the other you get tangy pineapple and hits of hot pepper. Also, the two can easily be made into a drink of the other style: shake the spirits and lime of El Diablo for a shooter or shake the tequila into the chase of El Vocho and serve it over ice. Versatility... this is what tequila gives us.

Join the discussion... Is there a tequila that you recommend everyone try? Is there one you introduce your tequila-hating friends to? Share your suggestion...

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