Thursday, March 31, 2011

Opening up Mas Malo's tequila vault

This type of tequila bottle used to be made by nuns...but why would they make the bottle look like that?
Mas Malo Downtown is a different animale from Silver Lake's original Malo -- located in a former jewelry store that was later Clifton's Silver Spoon cafeteria, it's a cavernous room that holds a few secrets in addition to plenty of tables and a long bar extraordinarily well-stocked with tequila.

Downstairs, there's a '70s styled lounge, while tucked away at the back of the restaurant is the cozy Tequila Vault. The compact room can hold about a dozen people, and it can be used for everything from a romantic anniversary dinner to an exclusive tequila tasting session, and the selection of rare tequilas that lines the walls is muy rico indeed. I was invited to try some of the top-notch tequilas for a tasting ranging from Silver to Reposado to Anejo to Mescal. (Work the next day kept me from ingesting the supposedly-hallucinogenic worm.)
Tequila bottles are always fascinating, and while AsamBroso is known for its extremely phallic bottles, the El Carbonzado variety aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels is also a fine sipping tequila with a hint of butterscotch flavor.
Fortaleza  is from one of the first families to sell tequila, and the Reposado (or "rested") variety has a heady vanilla nose. But the mejor de mejor we tasted in the vault was Casa Noble single barrel Anejo, aged for five years, which is just about the smoothest tequila I've ever tasted, with a buttery, silky finish.There's also a selection of mescals, and Malo beverage director Fred Warner is an able guide through the world of tequila. Mas Malo is also introducing a menu of traditional style cocktails made with tequila, from a Tequila Sazerac to a Tequila Aviation, and you don't need to be in the exclusive vault to order any of the tequilas or cocktails.

3 comments:

Frank @Homemade Sausage said...

What a great article. Thank you so much for posting.

Luis Delso said...

Hello:

It's really a very interesting post, thanks for sharing

Greetings!!

Jen said...

Funny photo! I always wondered why the bottle is shaped like that too... but I had no idea it was made by nuns!!