Here's a British video showing how tequila is made. They do a nice job keeping it high level and simple. It's a great 5:45 walkthrough that includes fun-to-see visuals of TG.com favorite El Mayor's manufacturing processes. Check it out.

From TequilaGringo: We'd heard some good things about this anejo so, much like Pavlov's dogs, our mouths were watering simply on sight.  I'm happy to report that this tequila doesn't disappoint.  And it's one of the most unique tequila's we've tried.  The first sniff brought us a wide range of different smells, while cinnamon is the most prominent, there are also a buttery smell, and what I can only describe as a pastry-like note in there.  Then came the taste.  At first you get some agave, and some heat, but very very quickly the flavors start coming.  One of our tasters actually said "cinnamon bun", another, "candy apple".  There are some notes of wood and vanilla in there as well, but the cinnamon leads the  read more »

From TequilaGringo: These distinct bottles arrived and we were immediately intrigued.  The first we tried was the silver (habit I guess).  Riazul starts with 6 year old agave's, where most use 8-10 yr old plants.  Riazul reports that sugar levels in the younger plants is higher and helps create their great taste. The nose came off as a vegetal, earthy agave.  Not necessarily typical for a highland tequila.  The taste is where this tequila impresses, it's really fantastic.  read more »

From TequilaGringo: We know what most of you are going to say without even trying this: "Flavored tequila?", "don't mess with the agave - even if it is with a jalapeno", "Is this your follow up to flavored cigarettes?" and probably much more.  But you know what?  Why be a purist about flavors? All you do is limit your options and maybe even come off a little snobby (or a lot snobby). The Tanteo line is a category all to themselves, and we don't think it in any way interferes with the appreciation of the 3 traditional tequila types: blanco, repo, and anejo. In fact, we would much rather pour a Tanteo over ice than mix a blanco with fruit juice.  read more »

From TequilaGringo: Luna Sueno's blanco offering arrived and it was apparent immediately that these guys know how to make a tequila look really tantalizing.  It comes in a sleek (dare I say, beautiful?) black box.  The bottle is hand blown, which gives it a very authentic feel, and hearkens back to old Mexico, we like that.  We're suckers for that.  Perhaps the most unique quality of Luna Sueno is the quality (we can be witty with our plays on words yes?).  Most tequilas are distilled twice.  We've seen a few triple distilled.  This is the first cuadruple destilado we've come across.  Each distillation removes impurities - two is usually enough but to strive for a fourth is to strive for absolute purity.  read more »

From Tequila Gringo: We were thrilled when Juan Carlos Contreras reached out to us about his fantastic anejo.  Not only is Juan Don Pilar's Brand Ambassador, he's also the son of Don Pilar.  I have to say, he sent the nicest note you can imagine.  During our back and forth, it became clear immediately that Juan was a great person, and since we had heard great things about his anejo we were starting to think something pretty special was going on down on their ranches in San Jose de Gracia. We hadn't had it yet, but our chance was about to arrive.   read more »

A new story on examiner.com touts the benefits of tequila. 

"Did you know that tequila is considered to have health benefits if consumed in moderation? It is, seriously.

Studies done at The University of Guadalajara have determined that tequila has therapeutic properties. As with a good glass of Vino, tequila increases good cholesterol while reducing the bad and acts as a relaxant before going to bed. It also increases cardiac functions, i.e. stimulates your metabolism to aid in digestion..."  read more »

From Tequila Gringo: We loved the repo offering from Dos Lunas and so were excited to try out the blanco.  Their blanco is from the midlands, and they use 10 year old agaves (8 is a little more common, the extra age means bigger pinas and more time to pick up flavors from the soil or air depending on altitude).  The nose was a sweet agave and fruit.  Upon taste, more of the same.  A nice, smooth, simple blanco.  A soft, almost velvety mouth feel.  Overall, a solid offering. Our socks didn't fly off like they did with the repo- but that's an unfairly high bar.  7 stars, and an easy choice if you're looking at patron as the competitor.

From Tequila Gringo: Tres Manos has been on our hit list for a while and we finally got to try some at the Tequila Event at the Winehouse in West LA.  Triple distilled.  Triple filtered.  (Do you get much out of the extra distillation and filter - unclear, but presumably there are fewer contaminants, better purity.)  Barrel info is all on the bottle.  An extra anejo, but it doesn't say it on the label due to some strange ruling it was grandfathered into.  But let's get to the tequila itself.  Very sherry-like (especially on the nose).  The taste continued the sherry theme, but also was somewhat floral and had a delicious peppery finish.  Great stuff.  A 3 yr old tequila at 70 bucks is pretty good value as  read more »

From Tequila Gringo: Here's a great old school tequila.  Stone crushed, just how they used to do it.  Much more laborious than the way most tequilas are made today, but damn if the old way didn't produce a better tequila.  They take  8 yr old agave plants (8-10 is pretty typical) and cook for 33 hours.  Then it ferments for 3 and a half days in wood barrels.  From there, it goes into nice hand blown glass bottles with a pina looking top that's made from ground marble.  Old school looking bottle is perfectly fitting for this production process.  The nose is pretty remarkable for a blanco with some fruit and earth, and we found the taste to be very unique for a blanco as well.  It's a low-land tequila, which nat  read more »

From TequilaGringo: Tequila Tierras is a newer line of tequilas that is touting the fact that it's organic.  For all you green folks out there (we include ourselves in that bunch) that makes for a pretty good excuse to drink tequila instead of soda during your lunch break.  We really enjoyed their blanco and repo, so we were pleased as punch when they sent their anejo.  The nose on this tequila is full bodied agave, but very low heat, with some butterscotch.  The taste follows with more of what we can best describe as a nice, easy, muted agave with medium heat.  The finish at first seems like it's going to be here and gone, but then an extra flavor arrives at the end, we think it's best described as sea salt.  Mouth feel is  read more »

From TequilaGringo: Great bottle.  What makes a great bottle you ask? It has guns molded into the back.  As if that's not enough, the cap is heavy, so you can smoothly spin it off with a flick of the thumb.  It pours very nicely.  (It also has markers on the back for each shot worth of booze, but I find them pretty useless.)  The nose of this tequila has a full bodied, sweet agave to it.  Taste follows with more sweet agave, and some very slight hints of black pepper and a hint of vanilla.  Medium/light heat.  Mouth feel is thin.  This is a delicious blanco, wonderfully complex with a finish that seemed to be just about the right length for us.

NOM 1123.  Tasted 08/01/2009

TequilaGringo: Oh wow.  We had this at West LA's Winehouse, and we absolutely loved it.  Their rep tells us it's organic, but they don't quite have the approval to say it yet.  The rep said, "Either you love it or you love it a lot" and we agree!  It's aged in charred sherry barrels which really made this not only unique, but delicious.  The nose was nice, light, with maybe a hint of cinnamon.  The taste followed up very well, you can certainly taste the sherry barrels, but it also has a "just right" amount of caramel that gives it a wonderful complexity.  A big full body.  If you like bourbon, you're going to like this - plain and simple.  9 stars and on TequilaGringo's best Reposado list.  read more »

TequilaGringo: Corzo reposado's a solid choice because they're pretty easy to find and so much better than the typical tequila out there.  Each bottle is 7-12 years in the making.  They use twice the agave compared to most other tequilas.  Though more expensive, they cut down to the purest heart of the distillate.  The tequila is from the Los Altos de Jalisco area, and that higher altitude produces agave with a higher sugar content making for sweeter flavors.  Corzo's also the only tequila to incorporate a second mellowing process prior to the third distillation.  The double mellowing enhances the oak and vanilla flavors while maintaining the softness and smoothness of the finish.  We found the nose to be mostly agave,  read more »

TequilaGringo.com: Let's just start with, "wow".  We were already huge huge fans of the five year, so we came into this with high hopes.  The bottle is a very similar design to the 5 year, but with silver accents where on the 5 year there's gold.  Each bottle is also numbered and signed in a classy way.  We found that it had a familiar nose, similar to the 5 year.  Taste followed with delicious caramel, perhaps just a bit stronger than the 5 year we'd grown accustomed to (though that of course could simply be the barrel our tequila came from).  The finish, amazingly smooth.  This tequila won the double gold at the 2009 SF Spirit Awards, and with good reason.  Treat yourself to a little something special a  read more »