U.S. tequila faces a new twist

Washington Post via Seattle Times ^ | September 25, 2003 | Steven Gray

[sarcasm]

WASHINGTON — Margaritas could become pricier and jobs could be lost if Mexico adopts a proposal to require that all tequila be bottled south of the border, the U.S. liquor industry said yesterday.

Mexican authorities said they largely are seeking to protect the integrity of tequila as they consider the proposed regulation. More than 80 percent of the tequila sold north of the border is shipped in vats or other bulk containers and bottled in U.S. plants, and much of that is sold to U.S. consumers in forms other than the pure distinctive liquor produced in Mexico from the juice of the cactus-like blue-agave plant.

[wafflehouse]

jeez.. tequila is too expensive to drink now.. what are they talking about.. why can i buy a $5 bottle of vodka or rum, but the cheap tequila is closer to $15?

ill just stick with my buddy, Jim Beam.

[raybbr]

Free trade hypocrisy alert!!!

[apillar]

I've always thought tequila tasted like cigarette butts anyway, give me a good bourbon...

[shuvlhed]

Exactly! They can keep it.

[NautiNurse]

Send all the Mexican illegals back home to bottle tequila.

[Quick Shot]

Usually I never feel safe eating/drinking anything from Mexico. But I guess nothing could grow in tequilla.

I agree they need work in Mexico, but why don't they try to steal it from China....

[Lazamataz]

Mexican labor is cheaper. The factories are already there. The onerous US tax system would be avoided.

Therefore, it will cost much, much more.

I just effing LOVE "free" trade.

[harpseal]

Ping on or off let me know.

Ah yes the Free traders will tell us again how this is good for the USA because it means cheaper products even though the tequilla will cost more.

[A. Pole]

Mexican labor is cheaper. The factories are already there. The onerous US tax system would be avoided. Therefore, it will cost much, much more. I just effing LOVE "free" trade.

I think that this is a special case. If the tequila is being adulterated, securing the pure agave content might raise the price. I would say it is an issue of real stuff versus imitation.

[DBrow]

"If the tequila is being adulterated..."

They are not saying the product has been adulterated. Bottlers in the USA mix pure tequila with fruit juice and other flavors, then sell it as a bottled, premixed drink (Tequiza comes to mind, and there are several lemonade type products).

This is "value added marketing", not adulteration.

The price of quality tequila has risen dramatically as American consumer respect for the product grows. There are tequilas now that are marketed just like single malt scotches were marketed a decade ago, with prices over $30 per fifth. I bought six bottles of T 12 years ago in Mexico, for about $8 per bottle. The same stuff in US stores today is going for more than $45!

I think the Mexicans are realizing that they have been giving away something of value, and the profit is not acruing to them, it is acruing to US interests. They are trying to capture the profits for themselves and their workers.

From a free trade point of view, if they want to control their own commodity made from their raw materials and their labor by packaging and marketing it from their own country, why not? If Americans do not like the higher prices (and advertising claims of higher quality) they can not buy Mexican tequila and instead buy Jim Beam or Jack Daniels.

Who knows- maybe Americans will sneak across at Juarez to work in the Mexican bottling plants!

[tx_eggman]

Increased US demand for "high-end" tequila is jacking up the prices. Tequila is made from distilled sap from hearts (piñas) of the agave or maguey plant. This plant is actually related to the lily and amaryllis (it has its own genus, Agave). There are 136 species of agave in Mexico, of which the blue agave - agave tequilana weber azul - is the only one allowed for use in tequila production. It takes 8-10 years for the piñas to mature ... so the supply of the raw material is lagging behind a sharp rise in demand here in the US.,/p>

The problem most people have with tequila is that they have only experienced mixto tequila (not 100% agave). Mexican law requires that in order to be called tequila it need only be 51% agave - the rest is typically corn liquor. Bad hangover material. 100% agave, consumed straight, will not give you a hangover. My particular favorite is El Tesoro de Don Felipe Paradiso, It's a five-year-old anejo, a blend of El Tesoro silver and anejo tequilas. The blend is aged further in A. de Fussigny Cognac barrels. Expensive but as pleasurable to sip as a fine single malt scotch.

[RippleFire]

Burp Bump

[A. Pole]

My particular favorite is El Tesoro de Don Felipe Paradiso, It's a five-year-old anejo, a blend of El Tesoro silver and anejo tequilas.

How do you drink it?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Woodford Reserve....

Yum.

[Hillary's Folly]

As they say, life is too short to drink cheap liqour, try a little Knob Creek instead of Beam.

[KCmark]

Heradura Repisado. Smoooth.

[tx_eggman]

Straight up, sipped like cognac (which I detest).

[tx_eggman]

Agreed, I have a bottle in my collection.

Best bang for the buck - Sauza Hornitos. The least expensive 100% agave I've found. This is what I use when mixing margaritas for friends.

[tx_eggman]

Tequiza cuts into the agave crop in that it contains agave nectar (from which tequila is made). It doesn't contain tequila - only (what the hell is this) 'tequila flavor'