Friday, May 30, 2008

Camper and Tequila


I feel like I have been pointing this blog at Camper a lot recently and here I go again. I picked up a copy of Wine & Spirits at the airport last week which had a tequila piece by my buddy Mr. English. It is accompanied by another piece by David Wondrich decimating the Highland and Lowland classifications. Together, I think these two articles might be the best writing on Agave I have seen this year.


Also, C's article is the first mention I have seen of Ocho, a tequila that just launched in Europe oddly enough and is not available in the US yet. Jacques Bezuidenhout (a major source of Tequila knowledge for me) and I were just lamenting a few months ago the lack of attention being paid to terroir and the growing of agave. Well it looks like this brand is not only paying attention to it, they are capitalizing on it by using vintages and field designations. I am overjoyed. Even if the juice doesn't pan out (which I find highly unlikely given who is making it), the fact that a brand with this kind of backing is positioning itself to rely on education in such a big way bodes very well for my vision for the future of my craft. Who knows, maybe this could lead to Bourbon labels actually listing the stills in which they were made.


I am having drinks with the American importer of Ocho later this week and I hope to have more info then.


PS The pic above is of the controller for my seat on the Virgin America flight I was on when I read these articles. Notice the cake button....they have a friggen button for cake!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm flying Virgin Atlantic when I make my way over the pond towards Tales of the Cocktail... I can only *hope* they have a cake button on their trans-atlantic flights too!

I've yet to see Ocho in the shops here in London, but I'll keep an eye out. The marketing info is certainly enticing...

camper said...

Thanks Neyah- this is a huge compliment coming from you.

H. said...

I was both with Camper in Mexico when he got the news that he was going to do that article and with you,Neyah, later that week trying Ocho for the first time. While in Mexico, Tomas Estes showed me the European bottle of Ocho, but I did not taste it. Then on my way home from buying a car in San Diego last week, I stopped in Santa Barbara, picked up a copy of the mag, buckled up to a glass of Siete Leguas Anejo and read. I agree, not only some of the best writing on the topic, but some of Camper's best work in general. All in all, very exciting stuff.