It used to be that Champagne was the drink of choice for major celebrations.
Landmark birthdays, weddings, births, graduations and new jobs - all marked by the cheerful pop of a bottle and golden elixir bubbling in an elegant flute. But there has been a noticeable shift lately as a new type of Mexican wave washes over the UK.
Once the tipple to bring a night out to an abrupt end - does anyone ever remember anything after a cheap shot in a dodgy club? - tequila has quietly done a 180° in PR terms.
Forget about a cartoon worm languishing at the bottom of a bottle; greater education about this special spirit, plus a release of uber-premium variations, has put tequila firmly in the limelight, for all the right reasons.
Among the top-tier tequila brands, PATRÓN is perhaps the most widely known. Meaning ‘boss’ in Spanish, its spirit begins life in the highlands of Jalisco, a few bumpy hours' drive from Guadalajara, Mexico. A dedicated tequila region, Jalisco is the beating heart of this industry. More major brands are producing their liquor here than you can shake a wedge of freshly cut lime at.
It all starts in the blue weber agave fields - orderly rows upon rows of plants with ferociously sharp leaves, growing steadily under the heat of the Mexican sun. In the early morning, before the heat rises to unbearable levels, Jimadors, expert agave harvesters, assess which ones are ripe for picking. It involves hacking off the leaves - so sharp they drew blood when I skirted past one of them for a selfie - to expose the core, known as the piña. Done right, it resembles a squat, shorn pineapple, which may be where the fruit derives its name.
Trucks are loaded with these piñas and driven to the distillery, a handsome brick building that sits mere metres from Hacienda PATRÓN, where the brand’s guests (and the odd group of journos) stay on an invite-only basis. It takes 79 hours to cook down and release the sugars held in these piñas in huge brick ovens, before they’re milled, fermented and distilled into PATRÓN Silver (also known as Blanco), the flagship tequila and the starting point for all the other variations that the brand makes, including the latest luxury expression: El Alto (£289.49).
While PATRÓN’s regular bottles - Silver, Reposado and Añejo - follow the same distinct shape, El Alto stands out as something altogether more elevated. The slim glass bottle is finished with a spherical topper, the brand and spirit name picked out in white and gold lettering. In short, it looks ready for a fiesta of the most extravagant order.
The expression is a blend of some of PATRÓN’s most aged tequilas: PATRÓN Extra Añejo, PATRÓN Añejo and Reposado, all mingling together in that glorious azure bottle. Naturally, there is a price to pay for such artistry, and it tickles the £300 mark, perhaps another reason it’s best saved for big bashes and not disserved by flinging into a margarita.
Best enjoyed neat or over ice, as personally recommended by PATRÓN’s master distiller David Rodriguez, each sip reveals fruity and sweet notes, including, perhaps most surprisingly, hints of chocolate.
If all this echoes of whisky, you’re not far off. Aged tequilas are surprisingly similar to Scotch, except, as Rodriguez told me, while whiskies tend to spend more time in the barrel ageing, tequila is the opposite, biding its time on the ground as blue weber. While it may take years to produce a great whisky, blanco-grade tequila can be made in around a week, from harvesting and distilling to bottling.
PATRÓN’s El Alto joins an elite batch of super-premium tequilas behind some of London’s smartest private members clubs, bars and restaurants. Fellow compatriot Clase Azul - you’ll have seen its reposado (£176) in its artisan white and blue ceramic bottle - has launched Blanco Ahumado (£325). Komos also bottles its premium spirit into ceramic bottles after a three-year stint in French oak white wine casks and American oak whisky barrels. Don Julio’s 1942 small-batch tequila spends 30 months ageing.
The mania for good tequila has even trickled down into ready-to-drink serves, with Sierra Tequila, El Rayo, MOTH and White Claw all launching their own tinnies for summer 2025, ripe for spiriting away to picnics, BBQs and festivals.
While they’re not quite as crafted as the very top end, it demonstrates that the thirst for tequila goes across audiences, from festival-bound ticketholders to those with a taste - and deeper pockets - for a drop of the very best.
As far as tequila is concerned, it seems the fiesta is only just getting started.
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