El Sueño Tequila Silver

Travel Distilled reviews El Sueño Tequila Silver, which is a mixto tequila, a type of tequila that uses at least 51% blue agave.

El Sueño Tequila Silver is what’s known as a mixto tequila. This is a type of tequila that uses at least 51% blue agave rather than the 100% blue agave used by most premium tequilas. For that reason, mixto tequilas don’t have a good reputation. They’re cheaper and easier to produce, and they’re many people’s first taste of tequila. And for some people, their last.

The co-founders of El Sueño, Paul Hayes and Navindh Grewal (who had previously established the award-winning VIVIR Tequila brand), decided it was time to do something about that. Between them they’ve worked with agave plants for over 16 years, and thought that there was no reason you couldn’t make a mixto tequila that was good quality, inexpensive, and made sustainably.

Blue Agave Shortage

One reason that El Sueño has taken this approach is the shortage of blue agave plants. The agave plants used in El Sueño take at least nine years to mature, so growers and distilleries need to do some long-term planning. There’s been a huge boom in tequila sales over the last several years, and the growing of blue agave plants hasn’t been able to keep pace with this. After all, it’s hard to predict what demand is going to be, nine years in the future. El Sueño decided to make a mixto, which uses less agave, to help ease the demand for blue agave plants.

Making El Sueño Tequila Silver

El Sueño (‘The Dream’) is made at the same distillery which produces VIVIR Tequila, using traditional methods and natural volcanic spring water from a spring that’s right in the distillery grounds. The fact that they only harvest their agave after nine years is one reason their mixto is superior. Most mixtos are made for quick profits and use under-ripe agave mixed with other undisclosed ingredients.

It’s usually a sign of a superior tequila that it is made with 100% blue agave. However, these days even that is not a guarantee of quality. The agave shortage means that some distilleries have been cutting corners and using under-ripe blue agaves.

Tasting El Sueño Tequila Silver

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this tequila. After all, it’s just a mixto, right? Well, on the nose it was surprisingly good. It was cool, fresh, a little spicy, a little agave/vegetal. You’d be hard-pushed to tell this wasn’t 100% blue agave, though neither the website nor the label says how much blue agave is in there, and what the rest is made up of. It would be nice to know.

The taste was an equally pleasant surprise. It was a good balance between being light and fresh, with a hint of cucumber and lemon, and earthy, with the agave, some vanilla creaminess, and a dash of peppery spice. It definitely shows mixto tequilas in a new light.

More Information

This Tequila Silver is 38% ABV (76 proof). You can find out more on the El Sueño website. In addition to this Tequila Silver they also make a Tequila Gold, and a Coffee Liqueur made from their Tequila Silver, as well as a range of canned cocktails. In the UK you can find El Sueño Tequila Gold at Sainsbury’s. You can also buy their tequilas from Master of Malt.