If you ask me, right now, a good quality tequila beats any kind of bourbon I’ve tried. Given that my bourbon experience is limited – especially here in Sweden where the government’s monopoly and import taxes shrink the range of available brands to try.

The conundrum with tequila is that most people, myself included up until recently, have rarely had anything but the horrible stuff that smells like recycled jet fuel and tastes what you’d imagine drinking rat poison would be like. I’m talking about cheap brands like Cuervo or Sierra, both of which I used to mix drinks with back in the 1980s when I was freelancing as a bartender.

Come to think of it, have I ever been anything other than a freelancer?

A few months ago, I stumbled upon Tosco Tequila Reposado at our local liquor store. I don’t remember why I picked it up, but it might have been because we were planning a Mexican dinner and I just refused to buy the bottom-shelf stuff again.

In 2022, just before heading to LAX for my return flight to Europe, my brother Nick took me to one of those wholesale liquor stores with every imaginable kind of alcoholic beverage. They had about 50 different tequilas, and the one I brought back to Sweden was so incredibly smooth and delicious that it completely redefined my idea of how tequila should smell and taste. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the brand, but I’m sure it’s not available here.

Anyway, Tosco Tequila Reposado has turned out to be pretty close to what I bought in Los Angeles. It’s produced in the Mexican state of Jalisco where the town of Tequila is located and according to the description, it has a fruity yet spicy flavor with notes of oak, yellow pears, almonds, straw, honey, white pepper, herbs, citrus, and vanilla. I can’t speak to all of those wonderfully sounding scents and flavors, but I can certainly pick out the aroma and taste of vanilla.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been a sucker for almost anything that smells or tastes like vanilla.

A study I read somewhere recently, proclaimed that tequila is one of the least processed spirits. It’s not exactly “pure,” but supposedly, it goes through fewer processing steps and flavoring treatments during its transformation from agave plant to bottled beverage – at least when compared with bourbon, gin, and rum. In any case, Tosco is currently my preferred aperitif – and avec.

I created the above composition using a single, albeit lengthy, prompt on ChatGPT 4.0.