World's 50 Best Bars Brands Report: Tequila

For the fourth instalment of the Brands Report, we quizzed the class of 2013 on the Tequila brands moving through their bars.

We polled 100 of the top 250 bars that our academy voted for in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2013 survey.

We asked which are the best sellers and which brands are catching the imaginations of consumers for the trending list.



BEST SELLING

Last year, Jose Cuervo took the top spot – and why not? It’s widely described as the bestselling tequila in the world. But this year it is 100% agave Don Julio that is sitting pretty. And guess what? It’s one of Diageo’s Reserve brands.

Calle 23 holds on to its number two position and, according to the company slogan: “Tequila makes us smarter, so drink smart.” Now there’s an interesting idea.

We welcome Tomas Estes’ Ocho to the best sellers list this year – of course it was trending last year. It’s made on single estates and aims to demonstrate that terroir exists in agave growing.

We also welcome Beam’s Sauza and a brand called Artette, which has been around since 1986 and is named after a horse – Arete – a champion show jumper in the 1948 Olympics.

Arete was piloted by Mexican show jumping legend Humberto Mariles Cortés, who took two gold medals at the event - one for individual jumping and one for team jumping. According to reports, he later shot a man because he had a bad case of road rage. Very bad.

 

TRENDING

Don Julio is top of the pops in trending, too – testament no doubt to its place in Diageo’s Reserve portfolio and its subsequent place in the mighty World Class competition.

Tapatio fell off the best selling list this year but has appeared on the trending list. Tapatio is the name given to a person who comes from Guadalajara – the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco.

Tapatio tequila is made at the same distillery as Ocho and we’re not surprised to see Ocho on the trending list.

All the talk of provenance, terroir and vintage has got the attention of the bar fraternity and evidently their customers as well. This is Tequila Corralejo’s first foray into the top 10 since the list was relaunched.

The production process is said to take in many traditional artisanal techniques and, of course, the recipe calls only for 100% Blue Weber agave. Bang on trend, as a fashion magazine might say.