April 10 - Your Daily Drink on Tequila

Tequila is distilled from blue Weber agave. The spirit can only be made in a specific region: the Mexican state of Jalisco and some surrounding areas. The area’s volcanic soil is perfect for growing agave. The forbidding plant, which has sharp thorns and long, thick leaves, takes between eight and 12 years to reach maturity before it can be harvested.

Did you know?

• Tequila is NOT made from cactus.
• Traditionally, tequila was not taken with salt and lime. During the Spanish Influenza, doctors prescribed tequila as a medicine, to be taken with salt and lemon. But culturally, tequila is to be sipped and savored, not shot with a chaser.
• There has never been, nor will there ever be, a worm in your tequila bottle. It’s not allowed by Mexican law. Worms (or actually larvae) are only found in (bad) mezcal, and were put there as part of a marketing stunt in the 1940s. (Eeew!)
• There is a train you can take through Jalisco called the “Tequila Express” where you can taste tequila while riding past fields of blue agave, culminating in a distillery tour. (Hmmm interesting!)
• Just because tequila has to be made in Mexico, doesn’t it mean it has to be owned by Mexicans. Some very well known Americans have their own tequila brands, including Justin Timberlake, George Clooney, Xzibit, Sammy Hagar, and John Paul DeJoria.

Here are the top tequila list in the United States:

• Don Julio
• Patron
• 1800 Tequila
• Cabo Wabo
• Harradura
• Corralejo
• Milagro
• Tres Generationes
• Cazadores
• El Jimador
• Hornitos
• Ocho
• El Tesoro Tequila
• Tres Agaves
• Avion
• Corzo
• Arette
• Clase Azul
• Casa Noble

Famous Tequila Bars in SF:

1. Mosto (Mission)
2. Tommy's Restaurant (Outer Richmond)
3. Tres Tequila Lounge & Mexican Kitchen (SoMa)
4. Tacolicious (Mission)
5. Tropisueño (SoMa)
6. Colibri Mexican Bistro (Union Square)
7. Velvet Cantina (Mission)
8. Azucar Lounge (SoMa)
9. La Urbana (Cole Valley)
10. Padrecito (Cole Valley)