Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
The ELLE Lab is made up of a panel of 10 WSET-certified (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) experts and consumers. They sipped (no shots here!) their way through 40 blanco, reposado and anejo tequilas. Each was tried neat, before being diluted with a touch of water, which allows the alcohol to soften, bringing out more flavour. They were looking for bright, bold examples, with exceptional complexity.
For 2023, the focus is going to be on the off-trade, and continuing the success of some of the bigger on-trade listings we’ve got.” Following The Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s (WSTA) market report last year, which revealed that Tequila’s volume sales rose by 83% compared to pre-Covid levels, with the category up by 94% in value in UK-based shops and supermarkets, El Rayo will be available in a nationwide UK supermarket for the first time from April. There are two types of tequila — those that are made with 100% agave, and the inferior 'mixto', which only contains the legally required minimum 51 percent (with the rest made up of any other sugar, often corn). Don’t worry, we’re not going to recommend any of those.Each has different characteristics, ranging from the fresh and citrusy (there’s a reason you shot with lime and salt), to the more complex styles that display caramel and oak. Broadly speaking, blanco is for shots, anejo is strictly for sipping (like you would with whisky), and reposado is a good option for either. How we test tequila
The blue agave starts life as one hell of a sexy succulent, but it’s the piña at the heart of the plant that is needed to make tequila. The juice of the piña is fermented, then aged in oak for various lengths of time, to become blanco (unaged), reposado (aged for two months up to a year) or anejo (one to three years). He said he was a massive fan of the brand, and had been drinking it with someone from BBC Radio 1. He loves Tequila and loved what we were doing, so we’ve been chatting to him for a while about getting involved, and he kind of put his money where his mouth is.”
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verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ El Rayo became the first Tequila brand to be listed at retailers such as John Lewis, Liberty and Daylesford, and is now available at more than 500 on-trade venues including London’s Sushi Samba, and Drake and Morgan. Vereker noted that actor Nicholas Hoult had also invested in the brand as an angel investor, after he direct messaged (DM) the brand on social media. El Rayo is made using highland and lowland agaves, and was created in partnership with maestro Tequilero Oscar Garcia.
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