It’s late at night and someone suggests a few shots. At the time, it’s the best idea you’ve heard all week. For many people, the default shot is tequila. Out rolls the salt, slices of lime and the shots are lined up at the bar.
It takes so little time to down the shot, but tequila’s actually one of the great slow drinks of the world. It takes eight years to grow its key ingredient, the blue Weber agave plant, before it is roasted, fermented and distilled to become tequila.
Methods of farming the agave plant haven’t changed in centuries: the agave farmers, known as jimadores, in the mountains near the town of Tequila, nurture their plants to ensure they never flower and die before they have produced the right amount of carbohydrates for fermentation.
When harvested, the fruit of these plants, known as piñas and weighing between 70 kilograms and 110 kilograms, are slow-cooked in ovens, a process that breaks down the starch inside the piñas into fermentable sugars.
There’s another spirit made using agave that’s often confused with tequila – mezcal – but the agave is smoked rather than roasted, giving the spirit a distinct smoky character.
Tequila’s a versatile spirit, too. Use the fresh, white tequila in place of gin in a G&T and, in any recipe that calls for rum, you can substitute aged “a
ñejo” tequila.
There are two ways I like to drink it. On hot days, nothing beats the tall, refreshing Paloma, which is a mix of tequila, grapefruit soda – look out for the Mexican brand Jarritos – and lime poured over ice.
I also like it neat, especially when it’s served with a traditional sangrita on the side. In Mexico this is known as little blood
bthomas@theweeklyreview.com.au
