.
Thanks to the Fig family for providing the space and wonderful hosting and Joe G for cosponsoring, it was a terrific evening filled with Interesting tastes and flavors.

I'm a fan of reposato, anejo being a bit smooth and blanco somewhat bland with rough edges, which the Fig Tasting reinforced. I particularly liked the triple distilled Corralejo reposato, slight initial bite with a very smooth finish and my typical tequila tipple Cazadores reposado.

As for Raicilla I knew I was in for a treat when Joe and I came back from our tip/link run to Uncle John's and Hammond, with a Cheshire cat grin, encouraged me to try "one of the best" tequilas I would ever drink. Knowing I was about to be shot out of a cannon, I tossed it down, and fourtunatly not back up, and said yes, I agree Raicilla is ............horrific. Though, as jet fuel rough as Raicilla might be it is nothing in comparison to the revolting in sequence Xtabentún. At time I counted 5 distinctly disgusting flavors one right after another, overly cloying honey, harsh alcohol, bitter/herbal, it was a one ounce nightmare matched only by the malevolence of Malort.

Xtabentún on Left, avoid at all costs


FigMolly, Hammond


Joe G, Mack Sevier


Great company, conversation, food and tequila. A very nice evening, thanks to all.

Additional pictures may be found here


Enjoy,
Gary

Thank you everyone for coming. We had a great time and it was a pleasure spending a rare Friday night off with some fellow tequilla drinkers. Thanks to Joe for getting the idea into my head and Gary for picking up bbq (definitely the food highlight of the night).

While I confirmed my love of Corralejo and Cazadores, I also really enjoyed the Don Diego which I found very herbal. Also, even though noone proclaimed the bottle of Corzo blanco as their favorite - it did go well in margaritas and had a serious dent in it by the end of the evening. I think happy stomach and I are the only ones who passed completely on the raicilla which probably made my stomach a little happier yesterday (although I have to admit it was still a tough one). All told I think we polished off around 4 bottles (with 11 people, that ain't so bad).

I love having people in our space and hope to organize more events in the future. There has been a fly buzzing in my ear about a whiskey tasting...

Thanks again Molly and Justin for hosting the tasting. It was a good time in a very comfortable space. The food was excellent!

The Many Faces of Raicilla

Many brave souls sampled the raicilla last Friday night.

Holding a glass, the thoughtful hellodali is contemplative, withholding judgment, suggesting neither good nor bad, and it doesn’t get any better than this.



Dan, who came with happy_stomach, has a look suggests that unspeakable palatal terrors that are to follow:



aschie30’s look is, at best, skeptical, if not foreboding.



Tom, who came with hellodali, had a healthy swig and conveys the full revulsion (last Friday night’s word of the evening) that any normal person would have for raicilla.



The picture below was sent to Best Life today, a magazine that was looking today for a pic of raicilla, googled, found LTHForum and contacted me. Will raicilla become THE artisanal beverage of 2008?



Hammond

FWIW, Taste Food & Wine in Rogers Park is having a Partida Tequila tasting "by popular demand" on Friday, 3/28 from 6 pm - 7:30 pm. Presumably they'll also be pouring wine, as they normally do on Fridays at that hour. They don't sell a lot of spirits, although I did procure a bottle of Death's Door Gin there.


Taste Food & Wine
1506 W. Jarvis Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60626
773.761.FOOD

I just wanted to add my belated thank yous to the Fig family for hosting and to Joe for organizing. I'm sorry the 1800 didn't go over better, but my Mexican friend who recommended it said that it would provide a contrast to the others--and so it was but not the happiest one. The Cazadores was nice to discover. Tequila drinkers in the office say we should have had a Don Julio product--next time.

By the way, I'm not just the guy happy brings along sometimes; I'm also CCCB--a desultory poster at best.

I'll chime in with my extra-belated thanks to Molly and Justin for hosting and to Joe for being a cosponsor. I had a really good time and enjoyed trying everything, save the raicilla.

Amanda

David Hammond wrote:The Many Faces of Raicilla

Many brave souls sampled the raicilla last Friday night.

A few more brave souls sampled raicilla at the 1,000 Recipe Potluck.

I am known as a light drinker to the point of being statistically insignificant. I was offered a taste of raicilla, which I gamely accepted. G Wiv had camera in hand ready to take THE picture of me looking disgusted. Hammond was holding the raicilla while took my sample, which would of been a photo composition of Mr. Smiley and Ms. Turning Red and Grimacing.

I drank my sample, but no pictures popped. G Wiv and Hammond look really puzzled, which by itself would have made for a great picture. Hammond inquired, "Didn't you hate it?" "No, it seemed more like slivovitz or vodka." I could sense they were very disappointed. I reminded them, "I was given drinks like in this in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe all the time. I learned if you sipped it, then it was torture. Throwing it back in one swoop was the better way to go."

Even the seemingly unexperienced have experience.

Regards,

I also did not make a face, although I thought it tasted like furniture polish mixed with lapsang souchong (tea flavored with burnt telephone poles). Himself actually liked it, but he is fond of lapsang and also enjoys Cynar and Malort.

Cathy2 wrote:

David Hammond wrote:The Many Faces of Raicilla

Many brave souls sampled the raicilla last Friday night.

A few more brave souls sampled raicilla at the 1,000 Recipe Potluck.

I am known as a light drinker to the point of being statistically insignificant. I was offered a taste of raicilla, which I gamely accepted. G Wiv had camera in hand ready to take THE picture of me looking disgusted. Hammond was holding the raicilla while took my sample, which would of been a photo composition of Mr. Smiley and Ms. Turning Red and Grimacing.

I drank my sample, but no pictures popped. G Wiv and Hammond look really puzzled, which by itself would have made for a great picture. Hammond inquired, "Didn't you hate it?" "No, it seemed more like slivovitz or vodka." I could sense they were very disappointed. I reminded them, "I was given drinks like in this in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe all the time. I learned if you sipped it, then it was torture. Throwing it back in one swoop was the better way to go."

Even the seemingly unexperienced have experience.

Regards,

I actually enjoyed the Raicilla quite a bit (to what seemed to be Hammond's surprise). It was herbaceous and smoky, and reminded me of some fine mezcals I've had. Rather than throw it back it one swirl, I thought this made for very nice slow sipping. I especially enjoyed the intoxicating aroma. As Hammond pointed out, among 50 adventurous LTHers, you're bound to find at least a couple that enjoy something that seems too funky to the masses.

Good on ya, Kenny. I had some downright good raicilla in Puerto Vallarta earlier this year and have even enjoyed old import bottles here now:

viewtopic.php?p=188430#p188430

LAZ wrote:I also did not make a face, although I thought it tasted like furniture polish mixed with lapsang souchong (tea flavored with burnt telephone poles).

No, of course not.



Neither did Giovanna.



Now Cathy2 and MHL did, surprisingly, not make a face when tasting David 'Exploding Cigar' Hammond's racilla.





Racilla - Malort = Not for me, no way, no more, no how.

The 'spouse kept bringing me drinks without telling me what they were: the raicilla was one. I recollect saying that it was interesting, in that it was complex and had a lot of layers to it - but, as somebody else pointed out, none of them layers I liked. There was a distinct moment that reminded me of dirty black pepper, which I suppose I could have learned to enjoy but it was mostly overwhelmed by the lighter fluid/sandpaper overtones.