Cuestión of the day

Spirits: a natural compliment for any cigar.  But beyond that, the spirit has the ability to bond people together, to help one cast their worries aside, or to make a great tasting drink. With today being the first day of summer, I thought I'd present a popular summer spirit: tequila!

I first happened upon Cuestión Tequila a few months back here in Nashville.  A friend of mine owns a couple of Mexican restaurants and they carry Cuestión Tequila.  What first intrigued me was the bottle, which is in the shape of an upside down question mark (interogacion inicial).  Then upon closer observation, I discovered the name was "Cuestión".  I thought I'd give it a shot and see how this "premium" tequila fared.

A neat shot of  Añejo offered up an oaky, sweet smell with a smooth taste of oak, caramel and hint of citrus. The shot was by far the smoothest tequila I've ever had, probably the smoothest spirit.  I then tried the Blanco in a margarita and it not only blended well, but made for the best margarita I've ever tasted.  I wanted to know more and found out that the distribution company was a local company.  I was able to network with the president, Jason Fandrich and we got a chance to meet up at a local restaurant to hang and so I could learn more about Cuestión Tequila.

Jason is the sort of people's person who gets things done.  He's an instant friend, and very knowledgeable about this market.  After the initial introductions, he taught me about the process and smoothness of the tequila.  Most tequila is produced from immature agave plants since most companies try to hurry up and produce as many bottles as possible. As a result, they distill multiple times to try to smooth their product.   Cuestión comes from decade old Blue Weber Agave plants from Jalisco, Mexico that are only distilled once.  The end result is the smoothest tequila possible.  For the Blanco, that is pretty much the end of the story.  But for the Añejo and the Reposado, the trip isn't over.  Remember, this is Tennessee- home of Jack Daniel's.  The fire-cured American Oak whiskey barrels from Lynchburg are used to finish aging the raw spirit.  The Reposado will age 6 months in the barrels while the Añejo will stay for 18 months.  

Fandrich took all 3 flavors to San Francisco World Spirits Competition in March earlier this year.  The Blanco took home the 2011 Gold Medal, while the other two took home the Bronze Medal in their respective categories.  Cuestión even took home a Silver Medal for packaging.  4 medals with 3 products at your first showing is pretty impressive.

 Cuestión Tequila is a spirit I highly recommend.  As the company is still in it's infancy, Cuestión Tequila may be hard to come by in your area.  Visit their website to learn more and definitely ask your local spots about it.

http://www.cuestionspirits.com