I do buy a lot of tequila. Since I got to the point where I was buying bottles, I would usually buy one, open it, try it, and put it on the shelf. If I liked it, I would eventually finish it, and then I would know to get another one. Bottles of Arette, Tears of Llorona, ArteNom were frequent pickups. When I could, I would find the other expressions and buy them too. Buying bottles was done mostly done impulsively; whenver I found myself at a liquor store, or saw something good. My collection grew steadily and then I found Tequila Matchmaker. With their guidance, Reddit and Facebook Groups, my collection went from a few bottles that I drank from all the time to a collection a bottles that I could never finish in my lifetime. Still, I would hear about incredible bottles of additive-free tequila and I would go out and get them. Very often, I was content to have them and put them on the shelf with the others, but in rare occasions, a bottle was so crazily good, I would feel compelled to get another one just from tasting it. (Villa Lobos Distiller’s Strength comes to mind). Other times, a tequila brand that I love would announce a new expression and I would want to make sure I got at least one bottle.

This cycle that now exists, of announcements, followed by releases hampered by allocation rules, hoarders, and flippers makes it so hard to just be a tequila fan. It instills a FOMO in the hearts of fans who fear that may never get a bottle of something. So many posts of the forlorn Fortaleza-hunters. “I have never seen it, will I ever?” I am glad to have purchased my bottles when there was no limit and almost no fan base.

Then, I got an email from Suerte announcing they would sell their new expression directly from their website. (I want to support my local shops, but if they won’t make it available I will support the brand).

I happen to be a big fan of Suerte, and I love their Extra Anejo. I immediately ordered three bottles, figuring I needed one to drink, one to store and another one to drink if it was really good. That was July. It also came to pass that my nephew was getting married and I wanted to gift him some tequila, and I had just tried the Los Dos, which I thought was an excellent, additive-free tequila at an insanely low cost. They allowed direct sales, so I ordered three bottles to bring to the wedding’s after party. For reasons too uninteresting to go into, none of these deliveries got to me until last weekend, when coincidentally I was lucky to score a bottle of Volans Still Strength Blanco. When I got the call, I immediately went to get the bottle at my local who saved it for me, and then I got the call about another local shop who had it and so went there too. Then I had three bottles of that. And Three bottles of Suerte. And three bottles of Los Dos, that arrived nearly a month after the wedding. (I brought Ocho to the wedding).

With the exception of Tequila Ocho Puntas, I have never had more than two bottles of any tequila where both of them were not open. And now I have this. Who knows how long it will take to finish them? I hope it happens before the next Puntas release.