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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/121046
���Casa Noble provides us with the ability to purchase a full barrel of tequila and cobrand it. We have Gabriela���s Select Barrel repo (barrel 536) and Gabriela���s Select Barrel twoyear anejo (barrel b-3). These unique barrels are USDA organic, aged in new French oak barrels; they are stunning. Once the barrel is done, we have to go back and pick another!��� ���Nat Milner, owner, Gabriela���s, New York with tequila brands include Sammy Hagar (Cabo Wabo) Vince Neil (Tres Rios Tequila) and Justin Timberlake (901 Silver Tequila). ���There are a lot of cool connections between tequila and pop culture,��� Holland says. 20 | APRIL 2013 It used to be standard practice to keep an inexpensive mixto tequila (tequila made with 51% agave sugar) in the well, making $5 margaritas, and $10 pitchers more feasible. But more tequilafocused bars and restaurants are upgrading well brands and nixing mixtos in favor of affordable 100% agave tequilas. ���It just doesn���t make sense to have a mixto in there when you can find really good, 100% blue agave tequila for a reasonable price,��� says Thomas of Cantina dos Segundos. She���s in the process of changing her well tequila from a mixto to a 100% blue agave tequila. ���There���s a certain cache that comes from being able to say everything you serve���even your well tequila���is 100% blue agave,��� agrees chef Robert Luna, who runs the bar program at Mas Malo in Los Angeles. Mas Malo just upgraded its well tequila from Cimarron to Correlejo Blanco. ���For a tequila bar to have credibility, the first thing I look at is what their well tequila is,��� says David Suro-Pinera, owner of Tequilas restaurant in Philadelphia. Tequilas keeps two 100% agave blancos in the well: Siembra Azul and Pueblo Viejo. ���A lot of bars may have a good selection of tequilas,��� SuroPinera says, ���but to me, it is bad ethics not to offer a good tequila in the well too.��� ��� Monica Kass Rogers writes about food and beverage for several national publications and her vintage revival blog LostRecipesFound.com. CLICK FOR MORE For more information about Tequila visit cheersonline.com/more, or use your smart phone to activate this QR Code. www.cheersonline.com GREG POWERS Show and tell has its place, but taste is the final arbiter. Give guests a taste of the tequilas you talk about, either by first pouring a small sample, or by selling flights, a selection of three ��-oz. pours of different tequilas. Silverman of Agave says he spends Friday and Saturday nights ���hand selling the tequila list one person at a time.��� And when guests are interested but unfamiliar with tequila, ���I try to steer them toward a flight of three tequilas rather than just one glass,��� he says. Sliverman also frequently pour samples ���so they can taste what I���m teaching them. Giving tastings almost always leads to someone ordering something more.��� What���s more, flights are a good value for quality tequila, says Milner of Gabriela���s. ���A high-end tequila can cost $12 for a 2-oz. pour. With flights, you���re getting three pours for just a little more than that ($17).��� Flights can also be fanciful, such the $20 ���Rebs vs. Frogs��� flight featuring four barrel-aged tequilas (three anejos and one reposado) at Cantina dos Segundos in Philadelphia. The flight, which includes El Jimador, Tres Generaciones, Casa Noble and Asombroso La Rosa, lets guests see the difference between tequilas rested in different types of barrels. Two of the tequilas are aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels, one in white French oak, and the last in French oak barrels formerly used for Bordeaux. ���It���s a lot of fun to theme these,��� Cantina dos Segundos bar manager Ashley Thomas says of the flights. ���We���re thinking about doing a spiritual spirits flight, featuring tequilas with a mystical/mythic story or name, like Apocalypto.��� At Austin, TX-based Iron Cactus, a five-unit Mexican grill and tequila bar, flights go out in custom designed metal racks. They���re also accompanied by a flight deck: a flip-card chart describing the tequilas in the flight, along with photos of the bottles. ���When that comes out, it has a ���wow��� factor. When we sell one, we sell five,��� says co-owner Gary Manley. Barmini���s Jose���s Margarita, made with blanco tequila, lime, agave, and salt air.