New Tequila's

[blagave]

I have noticed an increase in new brands of tequila hitting the market place......is this a good thing or bad thing? I am not very knowledgeable about other forms of liquor and how often they release new brands, but from what I can see in my liquor stores, the tequila selection seems to be one of the biggest.

Personally, I have stopped buying all the new releases and wait to try them at a bar or hear of a good review, so I am an example of buying less of all the new brands.

I would think a new unknown brand would have a hard time competing against the more advertised and well known tequilas. The average consumer must be lost when presented with so many different brands on the shelf.......maybe this is why the consumer leans more towards brands like Patron, Jose Cuervo, Don Julio, Sauza etc.

[wichie13]

Good observation BA, this is a continuing trend and will come full circle eventually. I think the increase in brands is directly due to the increase in planting of agave back in the early 2000's now that there is such a influx of agave being harvested the price has dropped to the point where growers are not even getting their money back from the sale of the crop. Due to this I think allot of growers are starting to say hey lets make our own brand and then make some money. I think as well that others outside of Mexico are entering into this business now due to the cost of the raw product and the fact that the market for quality Tequila is still growing.

When will this come full circle? well when the growers start switching to other crops(corn, which they have already) there will be a decrease in Agave availability and the price will start to go back up. Then allot of these smaller/new brands will disappear, and the circle will start over. Some will survive.

I like trying new brands too, but for the most part I agree try it in a bar first.

[MrAgave]

It seems to take a year or two to bring a tequila to the market, so these brands have been in the works for awhile...

I've had a few brands lately that are excellent, and the price points are coming down on many as well, so I personally see it as a positive.

[wichie13]

Don't disagree with you here I am all for more variety and lower prices.

The only negative in all this is for the sole agave grower not being able to make a living. The other down side to this circle is that in 7 to 10 years the supply of agave won't meet the needs and bottle prices will go back up.

Some new brands I like that I hope stick around are Muchote and I quite liked the 5150 anejo.

Originally Posted by MrAgave

It seems to take a year or two to bring a tequila to the market, so these brands have been in the works for awhile...

I've had a few brands lately that are excellent, and the price points are coming down on many as well, so I personally see it as a positive.

[blagave]

It looks like there are Pros and Cons to all the new brands.....1. larger selection, 2. lower pricing, but it looks and sounds like some of these new brands could be a "Once Off", so the growers can make a living. The big question is.... will these new brands have the staying power down the road.

If and when I find a really good newbie, I will most likely load up on what is available, in case it becomes obsolete.

[MrAgave]

We saw a lot of abandoned fields on the Tour, weeded over, quiote's piercing the horizon on many, so I imagine there will be a definite shortage in the upcoming years... which is why I'm excited to see new brands right now.

Plus the fact that I am always looking to add new content to the site, I think that drives my excitement for the industry most of the time.

Lots of stuff going on down there, hopefully it gets cleaned up and sorted out sooner than later.

[wichie13]

The one thing I like about this,is that the plants get to flower now and I think it gives the species more diversity. I am not a botanist but I would think that flowering and seeding would cause more diversity than just transplanting pups. On the first tour we maybe saw one or two quiotes on the whole trip......

Originally Posted by MrAgave

quiote's piercing the horizon

[bn087]

I'm pretty new to the tequila world compared to some on here. I found that the brand selection was a perk to learning about tequila. I started off with common brands in pretty bottles and it switched to researching and learning about agave which landed me on tequila.net.

I know tequila brands are on the rise, I always find something new at the liquor store (most recently Senor Frogs, which for 20.00 will be a go-to for me when it comes to budget spending)...but because of new brands I have been introduced to Dos Lunas, Agavales, or even LunAzul for margaritas.

I haven't had a chance to try MuchoTE but I will in July when I head up to Colorado. I'm hoping to try some Comisario soon as well...and these 2 are both fairly new. I cannot vouch for the reasoning behind the increase in brands but I am very happy to have started my tequila passion at this time when selection seems endless.

Something neat to think about...I have found gems that I haven't heard much about publicly...I always think that another brand out there could be more amazing than the last, I'm just trying to find it and the hunt is part of the fun.

[1tequila2]

One new brand that I was hoping would have staying power and is looking like it isn't is Tezon. I thought this brand was good across the board. I would like to know the "real" story behind its undoing. It was too expensive for starters, and the bottles were over the top, but the juice was decent. Sorry to see it go. Also, when a brand disappears does the same juice just show up again in a new package/label? Is it possible something like a Tezon resurfaces as 905 or whatever the new Timberlake tequila is called?

[blagave]

Originally Posted by 1tequila2

Also, when a brand disappears does the same juice just show up again in a new package/label? Is it possible something like a Tezon resurfaces as 905 or whatever the new Timberlake tequila is called?

Interesting observation.
I would think that the blanco would immediately be bottled under the brand but, what happens to the Reposado and the Anejo that is being aged.

One would think that the un-bottled juice would be purchased by another company and re-bottled. This now brings up a whole new set of issues. Could regular brand name tequila companies be buying "left" over tequila from other distilleries and blending with there own? Could this be some of the reason that some batches are so vastly different from others?.....or as 1tequila points out, the left over juice is used in a new brand? Is the consumer being tricked? All of this is hypothetical, but questionable in the least