When I tell people that I love drinking tequila, they assume I’m a crazy person, who clearly wasn’t damaged enough from my university days. You want to know why most people run when they hear the word tequila? Because they have only be exposed to the sugary, chemically-filled, GARBAGE.
Since most of the tequila in these cheap bottles don’t contain 100% agave, they fill the bottle up with anything and everything else, which has caused your hate against this elixir. I’m here to tell you that given the right amount of food digested and water consumed, my boyfriend and I have definitely finished a whole bottle of tequila and felt amazing, with NO HANGOVER the next day. Before you start assuming that I am 21, I was celebrating my 28th birthday where we put this challenge to the test. Now before I completely lose you here, I’m going to tell you a story of how this no hangover tequila night happened.
A few days prior to my birthday celebration, my boyfriend and I were having a celebratory dinner at home, with domestic cleaning services and where we split a bottle of champagne. I limit my intake of champagne, because the carbonation and high sugar levels tend to give me the worst hangovers. Therefore I only drink bubbles on the rarest of occasions. With that in mind, and having a big dinner and sufficient amounts of water, we both felt terrible the next day. Seeing as our sensitivity to wine continues to grow, we decided to do things different for my birthday dinner. We dined at Shoto at the Shangri-La in Toronto for their tasting menu, and we paired the entire menu with tequila either neat or on the rocks. We played around with familiar brands that we knew were high in quality from their selection and did nothing to alter the spirit. No cocktails, no sugar added, no nonsense, just tequila. For those thinking right about now, HOW? Well tequila is one of the healthiest forms of alcohol that you can ingested. And because I am SIPPING this periodically, my consumption was controlled, and with no additional sugars, a balance of water and food consumed, we both felt much better than the effects of the champagne bottles nights prior.
Still don’t believe me? Well I’m here to teach you a bit more of what I know to be true of Tequila and why we were able to have a successful night AND morning. Although we may love the effects of an oak barrel, it’s not necessarily the healthiest for us. ‘Congeners’, a substance that is created during fermentation and/or distillation have a number of damaging health factors. Since darker spirits contain more congeners than clear spirits, we feel more of the effects from the alcohol after a night of bourbon, more so than vodka. This applies to Tequila too. As much as you may love Anejos and Reposados, Blanco Tequilas are the best option when aiming for a hangover free night.
When a product states that it is using 100% agave, this ensures to the consumer that no additional sugars have been added. Sugars are the enemy when it comes to hangovers, and if the process itself guarantees no additional sugar, then it truly is the safest option when choosing your poison for the night. Therefore, reading the bottle of Tequila is of UTMOST importance before purchase. So this must be stated, if a bottle of Tequila doesn’t label itself as 100% Agave, than it is a MIXTO.
What the hell is a Mixto? It’s a blend of 51% Agave, leaving the other 49% of the product to be non-agave sugars. Are you starting to understand why there is such a drastic difference in price and taste between the products?! So do yourself a favor and READ YOUR BOTTLES!
If you’ve been around the world of Tequila long enough, then the word Mezcal has probably come up. Not sure what it is? The main differences between the two is the type of Agave plant used, where it’s harvested, and how it’s roasted. It may not sound like a lot, but it has a huge impact to the overall taste. If I would compare it to anything, I would say Tequila is your bright, a little too happy, vegan sister, while her older sister Mezcal, still a vegan, is a chain smoker. That’s right, different maturity levels are involved, and that smoky peaty taste will pretty much have you thinking you’re drinking an islay scotch.
Now you may be thinking, ok Monica, I get the point, Tequila is “good for you”, but what’s with the price tag? As mentioned above, anything that isn’t 100% Agave is just jam packed with sugar. Sure the sugar cuts costs in production, but by doing that, you really aren’t drinking what is unique to the characteristics of the land and pretty much wasted your time reading this article. Agave is also a plant that requires a lot of attention and time to harvest, spending a good 10+ years before it even sees a distillation process. The best things in life are worth waiting for, and it couldn’t be more true than with this unique spirit. Make sure you have the domestic cleaning services
In the end, you need to give this elixir a chance if you wrote it off in history, because it’s not the bad guy here, it wants to be your amigo.
