Recipe
- 2oz tequila (Siembra Azul)
- 4oz tonic water (Fevertree Indian)
Combine in a glass with ice, then add aromatic garnishes to take it up a notch. Here I went with orange, sage, and a sprinkle of smoked salt.
About
T&T: Tequila and Tonic – a deliciously easy way to switch it up from the traditional gin&tonic.
In such a simple drink, the choice of tequila will literally define your experience. In a world where there’s commonly biased preference for aged/older spirits, my preference for any agave spirit is unaged. In my opinion, barrel time really takes away from the complex flavors to appreciate in agave.
Unlike most other ingredients used to make spirits that ripen and are ready to harvest within a year (e.g. grapes, grains, corn, sugarcane), the agave plant can take a DECADE or longer to mature. During this time, you can imagine the plant develops a lot of nuances which can translate to amazing molecular bonds and flavor evolution during fermentation. Think of your “aging” in agave as happening before it ever encounters a still.
That said, be wary that today many tequila producers do take shortcuts for mass production, such as only using a portion of agave-based distillate (ie “mixto”), and even in the case of “100% agave” there are unfortunate shortcuts such as using unripe plants and inducing sugar extraction thru use of chemicals.
Anyway, do your research and choose an honest quality tequila – I used the lovely Siembra Azul.
Finally, shoutout to w&p for sharing these beautiful copper straws! 🧡 Short metal straws are a bit harder to find, so I’m thrilled to add these to my large collection of reusable straws.