10 things that all bartenders should know about tequila
Tips that we should memorize. They will come to you and take you as a professional.
- What is tequila? – not a cactus
- Where is Tequila? – to give a little bit of history about the town, and a whole region in Mexico.
- Tequila’s denomination of origin – There are only specifics regions where blue weber agave can be grown in order to be considered “tequila”, according to the CRT. It will be mostly only around volcanic areas where the agave thrives on those minerals. To be able to educate and take on conversations with guests, they can take this information home, to help you feel empowered and more sure about what you’re talking about.
- Tequila’s flavor profiles – highland or valley, higher or lower elevations.
- Labels – There are distilleries that make just their own tequila label. There are others that produce numerous brands of tequilas, or contract distilleries
- History of Tequila brands – what history of the label is. For example, Siete lenguas is the original Patron. To be able to suggest other brands of the same flavor profile.
- Get to know guests taste profile in order to be able to better suggest options that they will enjoy more. If they like spicy food, sweets, cakes, then you can figure out what they will enjoy more.
- Prepare your palate -warming up their mouth, take a little sip and let it touch all parts of the mouth, mix with the saliva slowly.
- Breathing techniques -teach not to take that breath in, not to stop the process of breathing, when you take a drink it’s basically taking a breath. At 80% proof, there’s a lot of heat coming down the mouth, so take the essence into their mouth, breathe through the nose, swallow, and then breathe or blow out. Avoid coughing, let them teach themselves
- Teach them how to sip – not shoot, 1.5 oz should take 15 to 20 minutes of sipping, enjoy what they’re tasting. Enjoy tequila for the flavors not just for the buss.