So I was lucky enough to spend five days in Puerto Rico. And while I was there, as whenever I am anywhere, I am looking to find new and interesting tequila they don’t have where I live, either in a retail store or perhaps a restaurant/bar. I had already seen warnings that Puerto Rico is mostly a tequila wasteland and neither of the things I look for were to be found. However, I did find a hotel restaurant called “Tacos & Tequila” (which you would not expect much from) where the food was very, very good.
It also happened that it had the best Tequila selection of any place I went to when I was there. That shouldn’t be surprising, since “Tequila” is in the name of the restaurant. However, its frosted double-doors each had the Patron logo on it.
When I say they the best selection, I mean it was this (pictured, above). That was much better than every other place I went to that had only Patron, Don Julio, 1800, Casamigos and Teramana. Added bonus was every employee wears a shirt that says “Tequila Helps.” I tried to buy one but you have to be an employee and I didn’t have time for a job interview, though I did think about it, it was that good a shirt.
The other thing about Puerto Rico in 2023, was how unbelievably expensive Tequila at a bar was. Just to check myself, I looked at the menu of a place I go to called Burro Bar here. These prices are easily 2x-3x the prices, and I thought Massachusetts was pretty expensive. I have enclosed a screenshot of the menu (Below) so you can see what I saw- that a 2oz pour of Casamigos is $24 (!) and the highest price was the Gran Patron Burdeos at $116 for a 2oz pour. When I think I could get a bottle of Tapatio Reposado and Tapatio Anejo in liter bottles for that cost, I’m just stunned that it even made it to the menu.
Lastly, I did, on my last day, treat myself to glass of the Tierra Noble XA, which I thought was very good, a bit hot, but otherwise almost worth the insane cost that I can’t write I paid for it (it’s not on the menu picture). For the rest of the time I made do with Patron. What’s a tequila guy to do?