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Clean and fresh with caramelised agave sweetness and a touch of biscuit. Lots of bright, green notes and something reminiscent of fresh sea air. Taste Once we’ve completed our initial taste testing, we compare the flavour and quality of each tequila to similar products across a range of price points and ask an all important question – is it good value for money? Our lengthy testing ensures there’s a tequila for everyone on our list, whatever your taste or budget. We’re extremely focused on sustainability. I actually own a sustainability business as well so it is rooted in everything we do. VIVIR is distilled in collaboration with the multi-award-winning Casa Maestri. It grows its own highland Weber Blue agave and the water comes from a natural volcanic spring in the grounds of the distillery. It adopts traditional techniques to preserve customs and take care of the local wildlife. For example, we allow a certain percentage of our agave to flower. It then can’t be used for tequila production, but it is only at this point the seeds can be cultivated for future generations of the plant. It is also when the agave bats will feed off the plant and they’re essential for the pollination of the entire area and wider biodiversity. They’re like our bees over here. The different tastes are quite distinctive. With blanco, the agave flavours tend to be more intense, while reposado or añejo are usually smoother, mellower and more complex – and just like other spirits aged in casks, they can take on the flavours of the wood. How do I know it’s tequila?
Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. VIVIR as a brand launched in March of this year. Since then, its rise has been astronomical bringing with it excitement, opportunity and what Paul calls “good challenges”. How did VIVIR Tequila come into being? Vivir Café VS is made using Vivir Tequila Blanco and is naturally-flavoured with coffee beans sourced locally to the distillery in Jalisco, Mexico,” said the company in a statement, adding: “The liquid has a deep coffee appearance, when sipped, the palate is welcomed with a rich coffee flavour which is met with a sweetness from Piloncillo, followed by an elegant agave finish.” The qualities of the sweet Weber blue agave are ever-present and the smoothness of the Blanco is very impressive. Suggested ServeAñejo – is aged tequila. This stays in the barrels for longer – generally between one and three years – and the barrels themselves are smaller, which adds to the flavour. The name “tequila” is protected, so all brands and types come from Mexico. The spirit is mostly produced in the area surrounding the actual city of Tequila, and in the highlands of the central-western Mexican state of Jalisco. Here, the blue agave plant needs at least eight years to mature, after which harvesters extract the piaña (heart) from the plant’s core, stripping it of its leaves before distilling it. The best tequilas are made with 100% agave, but the legal minimum is just 51%, with the rest allowed to be made up by a neutral spirit. Not needing a second invitation, we dive into a portfolio tasting of VIVIR . Tasting Notes – VIVIR Tequila Range
Strong agave presence. Very vegetal with green bell peppers, thyme honey, chargrilled courgettes, raw asparagus. There is a fuller caramel hinting at honeycomb and beeswax. Vanilla pods, ginger biscuits, Turkish Delights, Custard Creams add to the sweetness. TasteThere have been many tequila brands to come out of the UK in the past few years even from celebrities – what was the inspiration behind VIVIR? Reposado – literally, a “rested” tequila, which has been aged in oak barrels for between two and 12 months. When Patrón announced plans to discontinue its coffee tequila, the news was followed by an outcry from fans: testament to the style’s popularity. Blending its Blanco tequila with luxury arabica coffee from the coastal region of Soconusco in Mexico, Cazcabel Coffee has a rich sweet taste, with roasted coffee joined by chocolate, vanilla and pronounced agave notes, while the finish is smooth and dry with plenty of rich coffee. It also works as an excellent espresso martini base, with no need for added sugar syrup. Tequila blanco (or silver as it’s sometimes called) is clear in colour and unaged. As such you can expect a fresh, agave, citrus-spiked flavour. Reposado
VIVIR Tequila was born from the love of the agave-based spirit that two good friends Paul Hayes and Navindh Grewal shared. A number of years ago they started to question why it was so difficult to find quality 100% agave tequila in the UK without going to a specialist bar or retailer. In 2016 they finally made the decision to change perceptions of t equila in the UK and create their own line of premium 100% agave t equilas. It took them 3 years to develop as they wanted to get it right and in 2019 they finally introduced VIVIR Tequila to the UK. We chatted to Paul about how VIVIR Tequila is changing the perception of tequila across the UK and beyond, the business’ zero waste ethos and his expertise and experience of working with agave: Aged for at least two months, up to one year, here the colour changes to more gold and amber tones. You should find a more well-rounded flavour and smoother finish with sweeter vanilla and oak notes. Anejo I had already been working with agave for over 16 years and knew the industry well from launching bircher muesli in the UK. In 2016 we finally made the decision to change perceptions of Tequila in the UK and create our own line of premium 100% agave tequilas. It took us 3 years to develop and hundreds of iterations as we wanted to get it right and in 2019 finally introduced VIVIR Tequila to the UK. This beautiful, colour changing tequila from The Butterfly Cannon is an instant favourite. Whether you’re already a die-hard tequila fan or new to the spirit, this modern take on tequila is guaranteed to excite you. Out of the bottle it’s pale blue in colour and transforms into a light purple once your mixer is added. Despite this excellent showmanship, it’s not all style over substance. We are anti-diffuser in our tequila production, which means that we don’t use any acids or chemicals when we produce the tequila and we very much champion the use of hornos (traditional clay ovens) to extract agave sugars and only ever from mature crops. VIVIR Tequila’s aged tequilas are rested in bourbon barrels before being ready to drink: Tequila Reposado is rested for 6 months and Tequila Añejo is aged for 18 months.I had already been working with agave for over 16 years and knew the industry well from launching bircher muesli in the UK. In 2016 we finally made the decision to change perceptions of tequila in the UK and create our own line of premium 100% agave tequilas. It took us 3 years to develop and hundreds of iterations as we wanted to get it right and in 2019 finally introduced VIVIR Tequila to the UK.
Produced in one of the world’s most environmentally friendly distilleries, Tequila Enemigo (meaning ‘enemy’) is designed to be sipped, not shot – ideally from long-stemmed Champagne flutes. Pure, complex and unmistakably smooth, the 00 Extra Añejo expression is aged in custom new American Oak barrels, distilled using a clean, environmentally-conscious method, fuelled using reused agave rather than fossil fuels. Vanilla and charred oak notes join green apple, honey and nuts. An extremely easy-drinking super-premium tequila. Bursting with traditional agave flavours, as well as hints of pear, clementine and melon, it’s a supremely drinkable, modern tequila that pairs perfectly with a variety of mixers. We loved this in a simple tequila and tonic but it’s also delicious with a dash of lime soda or even on its own with ice. While the Blue variety is our favourite, we also highly rate the Butterfly Rosa Pink Grapefruit tequila. Its beautiful bottle also makes a wonderful gift for any tequila fans or simply as a treat to yourself. I think we’ll also create some single-cask reserve Reposados and Añejos and release them as limited-edition batches. I just love how versatile tequila is, there are so many opportunities! We also have some exciting new partnerships coming up to add to our current on-trade listings, so hopefully as well as drinking VIVIR Tequila at home, people will be able to try it in bars and restaurants more readily too. People sometimes think we’re just chancers coming into the market but then they try our tequilas and every time realise that they’re really good. We’ve been in the market for a long time and we know what we’re doing and always wanted to create something to be proud of. Tell us about your distillery and why you chose it. Unlike some wines, with their complex classification systems, tequila is simply categorised by age as follows: BlancoI designed the branding and purposefully made it quite contemporary. We want to change the perception of tequila and start with the way the bottles look even before people taste the liquid. A lot of brands tend to go quite traditional with Mexican artwork, which is great but people have this perception of what tequila is and, if we keep reinforcing that, it’s going to be harder to change. All of our tequila is produced in partnership with Casa Maestri, a fifth-generation distillery built on the rich red soils of Jalisco, Mexico, the birthplace of tequila, which allows us to produce the smoothest and most character-filled tequila you will ever drink. Our panel – made up of 10-accredited spirits experts and tequila-loving consumers – put 27 blanco, reposado and anejo tequilas to the test. Look for 100% agave tequila printed on the bottle label. This designation is only allowed to appear on bottles containing tequila that have no added sugars. When sugar (or corn) get added to the fermentation tank, the tequila style is called a mixto. How do you drink tequila? Because of this my business partner, Nav, and I started to understand why quality tequilas were quite rare in the UK. We kept getting told the same thing time and time again – there are no brands based here so the knowledge and education on the category is almost zero. People know it as a shot, and that’s it. We thought there was a huge opportunity to create a tequila we knew would be of high quality, tasty and could show consumers that tequila is so much more than a horrible shot that has to be washed down with salt and lime. Because of this, VIVIR was born.
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