A Brave Bull...

...is much better with sotol. I tried it, as mentioned in the last post, and the sotol does not drown out the Kahlua, but it also counteracts some sweetness of the liqueur. I still wouldn't sit around and sip some, but as a shooter? Most definitely.

Brave Bull
1oz Sotol
1/2oz Kahlua
Stir it, shoot it

Scotland is the land of Scotch...

...and the Islay area may be the best of them all. Definitely produces the peatiest drams. And local bartender/bar owner extraordinaire Sean Kenyon is there this week. Like him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/seankenyon13 or follow him on Twitter @seankenyon. He's posting pics as he moves across the country, so catch cool snaps of awesome distilleries! Or, if you can't, just try to stop into his speakeasy, Williams & Graham.

One of these things...

...is not like the other. Here we have some plants.

They look pretty much the same as far as I can tell. Both spiky, both hanging out in some dirt. They remind me most of the yucca plants that my friends and I would steer clear of when sneaking around around empty lots in elementary school.

And, all three -- yucca (not shown), agave (top) and Desert Spoon (bottom) -- are of the same family. But while everyone is familiar with the agave, specifically blue agave, and what comes from it, we might not know about what comes out of the Spoon, which is the subject of this post.

Over the past ten years or so, tequila has become something you don't have to be ashamed of drinking. Everyone I have ever met has a tequila story, usually involving excessive consumption in either high school or college, and a general swearing-off of the drink. Strangely, even with all these pledges of avoidance, tequila sales have been going gangbusters.

I attribute much of the increase to the release of mild plata (silver) tequilas, such as Don Julio and Patron, mixed into a sickly sweet margarita. These go down easy and taste not so much like tequila but as a alcoholic enhancer like vodka in mixed drinks. But there is an increasing population that appreciates tequila on its own merits, and goes out of the their way to track down flavorful and varied varieties of tequila. It's treated, in some circles, the way Scotch or bourbon is. If you've ever seen a coin margarita on the menu, this is a good way to transition from a Patron margarita to the joy that is the world of more complex tequilas.

But an interesting side effect of this increased attention is insight into some of the other brands of spirits produced in Mexico. First came mescal, with its almost overpowering smoky flavor and, despite all assumptions of those who have not tried a good one, no worm (or whatever the hell that thing is) in the bottom of the bottle. And now, we have the output of the aforementioned Desert Spoon: Sotol.

Produced in the northern state of Chihuahua, sotol is created in much the same way as tequila. And in tasting them, there is a family resemblance, which becomes more pronounced when you mix them with other stuff. You could make a perfectly serviceable margarita with the stuff. In fact, you could use it as a replacement for any drink which has tequila in it. (It might even make a Brave Bull -- tequila mixed with Kahlua -- vaguely tolerable. Actually, no; nothing could make that vile stuff something you would want to put in your mouth hole).

But consumed straight is when sotol comes into its own. Let's do a comparo between tequila and sotol. On the left, we have a bottle of Gran Imperio Herradura Reposado (we'll have a subsequent post all about tequila itself, with varied tastings). On the right, Hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol.

The Herradura is, IMHO, one of the best tequilas out there. It's so smooth and beautiful I could sit down and drinking a tumbler of the stuff straight. (Don't get excited, though; you'll never find this stuff. I haven't seen it in the US, or even many places online in Europe. I got my bottle at the Herradura distillery in Amatitan outside of the town of Tequila.) It has a creamy flavor. It tastes like Blue Agave looks, distinctly vegetal and grassy. It has a slight alcohol burn in the aftertaste. Its like tequila with all the evil wrung out of it. If you're in the neighborhood, stop in and we can do a taste test. If you haven't liked tequila before, or have sworn off it, this stuff may sway you.

The sotol, by contrast, is way floral. It has a very vague sense of smoke, like a mescal. A Scotch comparison may be Highland:Islay = Sotol:Mescal. There's also something, something almost medicinal. I pawed through my medicine cabinet to see if anything caught my wind that reminded me of the flavor, but no dice. There is something there, though.

I've found that even with extending swishing around in my mouth, I couldn't get overwhelmed with alcohol burn. In fact, the more I drank, the less like tequila it seemed. The floral taste is...happy making. I can see it as an aperitif. I can see people who don't like tequila liking this very much.

Another great reason to like sotol? Because of the lack of hype, and indeed knowledge, sotol is cheap. A bottle of sotol reposado will run you $10 cheaper than a, in my opinion, worse bottle of Patron Silver for a 750ml. Or, at nominal prices, Patron is 50% more.

So, try to pick up some if you at all enjoy tequila but a looking for a different experience. Hacienda de Chihuahua is the only sotol I have seen locally, but I expect the market to grow.

Hacienda de Chihuahua Reposado Sotol
Product of Mexico, USDA Organic
$22 at Applejack

Gran Imperio Herradura Reposado
Product of Mexico
$??? at...Yeah, right

After a very long delay, the Alcomohol blog is returning. Watch this space for updates in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, Alcomohol blurbs can always be found via Twitter @Necros44 or hashtag #alcomohol.

(BTW, that's some Oban 14-year Scotch whisky, a delightful, slightly sweet, very slightly smoky Scotch from the Highland region, at Corridor 44, on Larimer Square, Denver.)