Tequila & Mezcal Fest=Sunday Funday!

As a Hype Influencer, I had the opportunity to attend Tequila & Mezcal Fest 2016 in East London a while ago. My tickets were courtesy of Hype App (they normally cost £15 early bird, £20 on the door) and included 10 drink samples.

Now in its 3rd year, this is the only Mexican festival in town. Boiler House, part of The Old Truman Brewery, was packed with people at the weekend who were curious about Mexican beverages, food, and culture.

To start our Sunday Funday, we had a yummy burrito and nachos with salsa sauce from Cafe Pacifico, one of my favourite Mexican eateries in London. We enjoyed our meal with ice-cold Sol beer, the perfect accompaniment to it! 🙂

After our lunch, we were ready to try some tequila. We preferred Ocho as it caught our eye with its contemporary bottle design. This company is using only the highest-quality agaves to produce tequila and is one of the few brands still made in an authentic way. Ocho tequila is made by Carlos Camarena, whose family started the company in 1937. Tomas Estes, Mexican National Tequila Chamber multi award winner is his partner in crime. He is also the founder of Cafe Pacifico and buzzing Mexican bar (recently closed) La Perla in London.

Ocho means “eight” in Spanish and is made from 8th and favourite sample of this duo. We started our tasting with Ocho Blanco (the right one in photo). This is a non-aged, white variety, so it was tasting as tequila we know: full-bodied but a bit bitter.

Then we passed on to Ocho Reposado, which is rested 9 weeks and Ocho Anejo, aged 1 year, in ex-American Whiskey barrels. A Mexican friend has had told us the real tequila would be gold, like these two. Although they had the same alcohol volume as the blanco, these ones were very smooth to our surprise. We were informed that their agave flavour develops over time, hence the smoothness. These tequilas can be enjoyed on its own or as cocktails. You can buy them at Waitrose or Amazon UK. For more information on Ocho, you can visit their website: www.ochotequila.com

After our brief but informative tequila sampling, we even experienced some Mexican cocktail making by Tequila Patron. I am happy I haven’t missed the making of Rosa Picante, the margarita of the year. This original beauty is made with orange liqueur, lime juice, ginger syrup, jalapeno oil, rosewater, so it was definitely Mexican! It was a bit bitter for me, but definitely awakening my taste buds!

Special thanks to Hype App for giving me this opportunity! 🙂

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