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Different Ways To Drink Tequila

Monday, 14th February, 2011

In Mexico, tequila is often drunk straight. It is popular in some regions to drink fine tequila with a side of sangrita—-a sweet, sour and spicy drink typically made from orange juice, grenadine (or tomato juice), and hot chillies. Equal-sized shots of tequila and sangrita are sipped alternately, without salt or lime. Another popular drink in Mexico is the “bandera” (or Flag, in Spanish), named after theFlag of Mexico, it consists of three shot glasses, filled with lime juice (for the green), white tequila, and sangrita (for the red). They can be sipped or drank straight.

Outside Mexico, a single shot of tequila is often served with salt and a slice of lime. This is called “tequila cruda” and is sometimes referred to as “training wheels”, “lick-sip-suck”, or “lick-shoot-suck” (referring to the way in which the combination of ingredients is imbibed). The drinker moistens the back of their hand below the index finger (usually by licking) and pours on the salt. Then the salt is licked off the hand, the tequila is drunk, and the fruit slice is quickly bitten. Groups of drinkers often do this simultaneously. Drinking tequila in this way is often erroneously called a Tequila Slammer, which is in fact a mix of tequila and carbonated drink. Though the traditional Mexican shot is straight tequila, lime is the fruit of choice when a chaser must be used. It is believed that the salt lessens the “burn” of the tequila and the sour fruit balances and enhances the flavor. In Germany and some other countries, tequila oro (gold) is often consumed with cinnamon before and slices of orange after, while tequila blanco (silver) is consumed with salt and lime. Finally, as with other popular liquors, there exist a number of shot-related drinking games and “stunt” drinks such as body shots.

The hangover from drinking too much of any alcoholic beverage is common. Regarding tequila, those products that are produced as “mixtos” (51% blue agave with 49% sugars) will cause a much stronger hangover, due to the 49% sugar content contained in that type of tequila, when being consumed by the drinker. When drinking 100% blue-agave tequila products, and not mixtos, the hangover is lessened, due to the lack of added sugar. This would be most effective when shooting or sipping the tequila pure (no mixers; such as margarita mix or beverage mix). Whenever any sugar is added to tequila–whether from the manufacturing process (like mixtos) or through margarita mixes that contain sugar or by adding carbonated or fruit beverages that contains sugar–the resulting hangover will be increased.

If the bottle of tequila does not state on the label that it is manufactured from 100% blue agave (no sugars added), then, by default, that tequlia is a mixto, (manufactured from 51% blue agave). Some tequila distilleries label their tequila as “made with blue agave” or “made from blue agave.” However, the Tequila Regulatory Council has stated that only tequilas distilled with 100% blue agave can designate that the tequila is “100% blue agave.”

Some distillers of lower-quality tequila have marketed their product to be served “ice-cold chilled” when used as a shot. Chilling any alcohol can be used to reduce the smell or flavors associated with a lower-quality product. Any alcoholic product, when served as a chilled shot, may be more palatable to the consumer.

It should be noted that many of the higher-quality, 100% agave tequilas do not impart significant alcohol burn, and drinking them with salt and lime is likely to remove much of the flavor. These tequilas are usually drunk from a snifter glass instead of a shot glass, and savoured instead of quickly gulped