With Christmas fast approaching, the moment calls for something festive. Shameless carrying on might be the order of the season, but as ever, try not to drink too many different concoctions (preserve your dignity and liver), but don’t sacrifice flavour. This, my friends, is the moment for tequila. Tequila, you said? ¡Claro que sí!
The Aztecs believed the gods imbued blue agave, the Mexican plant from which true tequila is made, with a liquid that would erase painful memories. Centuries later, there are plenty of unfortunate souls who find that any memory of how they got home is erased after a night on tequila – and the memories they still have are definitely painful. For this reason, many are scared of tequila.
This is partly because Mexico’s most famous export has long been associated with reckless behaviour, particularly shots and slammers, which the French call “tequila boom-boom”. Tequila shots supposedly fuelled all sorts of naughtiness on both MTV’s Spring Break and Girls Gone Wild. Even in a cocktail, tequila is wicked. Although the infamous Tequila Sunrise (tequila, orange juice and grenadine) was invented in California in the 1950s, it rose to fame after 1972, when the Rolling Stones are said to have fallen in love with it during a US tour famously rechristened the Cocaine and Tequila Sunrise Tour. And let’s not forget the 1988 film Tequila Sunrise, in which Michelle Pfeiffer gets to have sex with Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson.
Tequila can be much more complex than that. Up to 500 of blue agave’s flavour elements can survive distillation – just think of all the potential taste combos! As a student, I waited tables at Café Pacifico in Paris and learned that tequila can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be – as suited to drinking with food as it is to partying and, in my experience, good for both social occasions and solitary rumination. With the weather turning frigid, why not celebrate the warmth of life over a tequila with friends? Sometimes you really can have your torta and eat it too!
• For fantastic margaritas at home:
Patron Silver Tequila, £34.00, waitrosecellar.com
Herradura Plata Tequila, £33.95, thewhiskyexchange.com
• For sipping and contemplating:
Calle 23 Añejo Tequila, £21.90, amathusdrinks.com
Ocho Reposado Tequila, £21.95, royalmilewhiskies.com
Tapatio Blanco Tequila £29.99, selfridges.com
Christian Holthausen is an Franco-American wine specialist living in London. Twitter: @bosiechampagne
