Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Tequila Review: 1800 Select Silver


Call me a sellout if you must, but somebody sent me a bottle of this tequila, so I'm going to write about it....

Like a lot of you, I enjoy a drink from time to time. Generally when I'm out at a rock 'n' roll show I'll start out with a bourbon and then switch to beer. When I'm at home, I'll drink a Scotch. When I'm with my lady, I'll drink red wine. When I'm at a Mexican restaurant, I always drink a margarita. And when somebody wants to do a shot, I typically choose tequila. So I know a thing or two about the taste of tequila.

The most important thing to remember when you look for a tequila is to get 100% agave. All 100% agave tequila is produced in Mexico (it's the law). 100% agave tequila is smoother and easier for your body to break down. The next thing to think about is whether you want white or silver tequila (unaged) / a gold tequila (unaged with a touch of aged and food coloring) / reposado tequila (aged for less than a year) / or anejo (aged between one and three years). In theory, the longer a tequila is aged, the smoother it will taste. However, tequila is aged in oak barrels, so as it smooths out it starts to take on oak-y flavors.

In the past few years, you've probably noticed that a lot more people are drinking tequila at bars. I see people ordering tequila cocktails and drinking it on the rocks. It's a fast growing segment of the beverage industry. As a result, liquor companies are introducing new products...

Which brings us to 1800 Select Silver Tequila. 1800 is an ultra premium brand owned by Jose Cuervo. The 1800 Select Silver is a new product that's 100 proof (most standard tequila is 80 proof). It's blended with a touch of aged tequila (for smoothness) but they haven't added any caramel coloring. The process makes it an ideal mixing tequila for those new premium cocktails. (A lot of the anejo tequilas are great for sipping, but the oak-y flavor can overwhelm the other ingredients in the cocktail.)

I've been sipping the Select Silver on the rocks and it holds up well. It's really smooth for a Silver Tequila and the extra alcohol content means it packs a wallop. It's great for shots too.

MSRP is about $30 for a 750 ml bottle.

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