Corpus Christi, TX --Tequila enthusiasts nationwide are preparing their palates as ultra-premium El Grado Tequila redefines the taste and quality of Tequila with its new entry into the marketplace. El Grado Tequila—Tequila’s Crown Jewel--has been hand-crafted from 100 percent pure Blue Weber Agave plants and produced with special techniques that provide for an “evolutionary leap” in flavor profiles and quality. Consumers nationwide* can now place advance orders for the very first bottles to be made available for sale through www.elgradospirits.com in California—with free shipping. The first retail bottles will make their appearance in Texas with California and Arizona soon to follow.
El Grado Tequila’s outstanding flavor profile comes both from its use of 100 percent pure Blue Weber agave and unconventional techniques El Grado’s master distillers use in producing the tequila. Combining the 200-year old traditions from the past with 21st-century technology, El Grado Tequila’s makers have created a distinct taste like nothing else on the market.
Hailing from Texas, El Grado’s founders searched across the whole panoply of tequila brands to satisfy their own palates. “As much as we enjoyed some of the offerings, there was something missing,” recalls co-founder Ashly Kubicek. Sensing other connoisseurs and would-be connoisseurs might be feeling the same way, she and her partners Page Brockman, Ben Gonzales, and Ron Park found Ana María Romero, a master Tequilera, author and expert taster, to help them formulate a smoother brand of ultra-premium tequila.
Working with master distiller Cesar Gonzalez, Romero and the team reviewed, refined, and taste-tested repeatedly before arriving at what they feel is a perfect product. They began a dedicated production line in Los Altos, Mexico to produce El Grado earlier this spring, and the first bottles are being readied for shipment to arrive in California and Texas in July and August.
El Grado has introduced its line of tequilas in three classic styles. Hand-bottled straight from distillation, El Grado Blanco truly showcases the agave flavors with a complimentary aroma of mint, and delicate hints of fruit and pineapple with traces of black pepper. Blanco presents a sophisticated, well-balanced experience with a palate-pleasing finish. Resting in select Tennessee whiskey barrels for six months creates the distinct taste of El Grado Reposado, adding vanilla & caramel fragrances to the flavor profile. Keeping with the same defined flavors aged for a minimum of fifteen months, El Grado Añejo is in a class all its own, by further taking on flavors of the barrel such as honey, butter, and caramel with hints of fruit.
El Grado presents their product in a manner befitting its pride of place as “Tequila’s Crown Jewel.” Simple, soaring and elegant, the French-made bottle features a glass-topped closure. Retail pricing is expected between $45 and $50 for 750ml bottles; a 375ml offering will follow later this year.
In addition to on and off-premise programs that will play to its status as “Tequila’s Crown Jewel™,” El Grado is speeding into the market on the heels of a motor racing partnership. Last month, El Grado teamed with Rolex Sports Car Series competitor Dempsey Racing. Dempsey’s Mazda RX-8 GT debuted in El Grado livery in time for the team’s best finish in the Rolex series (7th) in Millville, New Jersey and a 10th place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California.
El Grado represents a true collaboration between expert visionaries, distillers and marketers on both sides of the border. “We really feel we’ve accomplished our goal of creating a tequila that everyone can appreciate,” adds Brockman. Gonzales concludes, “Straight up or in our signature Real Margarita™, El Grado goes down smooth. It turns out that everyone enjoys a nice smooth flavor and finish.”
