How Should You Drink Tequila?
How should you drink tequila – as a quick shot, neat, on the rocks, in a Margarita, a Tequila Sunrise, or in another tequila cocktail?
How you should drink tequila, as with any other spirit, is entirely up to you. That said, I don’t recommend what a friend of mine did when I recently treated him to a shot glass of some of my good tequila. He knocked it back in one go, as if he was still a student. Part of a $100 bottle of tequila went down without touching the sides. A tequila that he could have sipped and savored for several minutes was gone in a second. I moved us along to the cheaper stuff.
Tequila by the Shot Glass
When I receive a tequila for tasting I drink it neat in a shot glass, or sometimes I’ll fill a shot glass and then pour it into a whiskey glass to get the full benefit of the aromas.
When I’ve done tequila tastings at distilleries they almost always use a tall and slender glass, looking a little like a sherry glass. You can buy them on Amazon as Riedel Bar Ouverture Tequila Glasses. I must buy some for myself!
So yes, you can definitely drink tequila neat in a shot glass, but try not to chug it unless your sole aim is to get as drunk as a skunk as quickly as possible – and we’ve all had days like that! If you live in the UK you can buy a wide range of good tequilas on Amazon.
Should You Drink Tequila with Ice?
Personally I prefer my tequila neat, though if you find the taste too strong on its own then there’s nothing wrong with adding an ice cube or two – though not in a full shot glass, obviously. Put the ice cubes into a proper whiskey or tequila glass, and then add your slug of tequila.
With a good tequila I prefer to enjoy it as it is, although it can be interesting to also try it with ice to see how the flavors change. If it’s a cheap blanco tequila, though, and the taste is a bit harsh on its own, a few ice cubes in it might help.
How Should You Drink Good Tequila?
There are currently four official types of tequila – blanco, reposado (rested), anejo (aged), and extra anejo (extra aged). There’s another style, cristalino, though it’s not yet an official category. See my Types of Tequila page for more on this.
As I said above, cheap blanco tequilas can be a bit rough around the edges, although there are certainly any number of good blanco tequilas around. Many tequila distillers pride themselves on making good blancos, as all their other spirits depend on this.
So the type of tequila shouldn’t dictate how you drink it, but the price might be a guide. If it’s really cheap stuff, drink it over ice or use it in tequila cocktails. You should also only be buying tequila that is labelled 100% agave. To be called tequila the spirit must be made from at least 51% agave, but the other 49% could be anything, like cane sugar to make it sweeter.
Which Tequila Cocktails Should You Drink?
Tequila is the spirit behind some really good cocktails, and you can also use it in other cocktails that are usually made with whiskey. Tequila cocktails have a bad rep with some people because of two cocktails in particular – the Tequila Sunrise and the Margarita.
The Tequila Sunrise is so simple, provided you’ve got some grenadine around (and if you haven’t, then leave it out). Tequila and orange juice is a good refreshing drink, so don’t knock it.
The Margarita is the most popular cocktail in the USA, and for some reason that makes some people look down their noses at it. I love a Margarita! A good Margarita made properly and not from a mix is a terrific cocktail, with lots of variations.
But there are plenty of other good tequila cocktails, so don’t stick to the two most common ones. One of the most visited pages on this website is this one, for a choice of 1800 Tequila Cocktail recipes – maybe people think they’re going to get 1800 recipes, rather than several recipes using 1800 Tequila!
Another good recipe is the Paloma, which I only discovered when I went to Jalisco in Mexico to visit several tequila distilleries. At its simplest, this is a blanco tequila with grapefruit soda and fresh lime juice. But as with the Margarita, there are many variations. Some use fresh grapefruit juice as well as grapefruit soda, and some like to add a little sweetness with agave syrup or a simple syrup. But do try it if you see it on a menu somewhere, though it’s also very easy to make. It’s very refreshing in a hot climate, which is why it’s so popular in Mexico.
So, how should you drink tequila? I’ll say it again – however you like. There are no rules, other than to enjoy it in the way that’s best for you.
Recent Posts
