Celery Margarita – Ocho Blanco Tequila
Although the idea of a margarita with celery might not be new. I thought it would be an excellent choice for the really hot few days. On top of that, I wanted to present to you the Ocho Blanco Tequila. It is quite hard to get a bottle here in Germany, but that might change now with the new importer being Ferrand Spirits.
I am always happy to see that more tequila comes to the market here in Germany. The special thing about Ocho Tequila is their single origin mantra. Each batch comes from a single field. Apart from that, the agaves for this tequila age for seven to ten years. After the harvest, the pinas are cooked at 80 °C to 85 °C for 48 hours. Afterwards, the cooked pinas are pressed and the juice is fermented for four to five days in 3000 l pine vats. The distillation takes place on two stills. The first one is a 3500 l stainless steel still and the second one on a 300 l copper still. My bottling is labelled as “Las Presas”. Apart from the Blanco there are also a Reposado tequila, aged for eight weeks and eight days in former whiskey barrels, and a Anejo tequila. The Anejo is a vintage, from 2015 and aged for a whole year in ex-whiskey barrels.
Flowery agave notes
As a typical blanco tequila you can find beautiful fruity agave flavours in the Ocho. On top of that, there are flowery notes of roses and violets. In the Reposado and the Anejo the agave notes are a little bit subdued, but caramel and vanilla notes accompany the flavour. The interesting about all three of them is, that a few drops of water open up some more flavours.
Fruity, salty and umami
Right at the peak of the heat wave of the last few weeks, I had a bottle of Ocho Blanco and a bunch of celery on hand. This is why I just added a little bit of lime, salt and agave syrup and ended up with a refreshing cocktail. There is not much I can say about this drink, apart from, if you like celery and tequila, you probably will be a fan of this cocktail, too!
2 Dashes The Bitter Truth Celery Bitters
3 cl Lime Juice
2,25 cl Celery Purée
2,25 cl Agave Syrup
Purée 1 cup celery with a half cup of water – shake – double strain – chilled cocktail glass;
Garnish: Celery sprig;
Song: Pete Rodríguez – I Like It Like That
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product.
