Tequila 5150

Posted on July 9, 2008 Under Food

Tequila 5150 is a new American tequila, or rather an “eau de vie de agave,” and the first of its kind. Frank Leal, owner of Leal Vineyards in Hollister, CA is the first American to legally import blue agave into the U.S. He decided to apply wine making techniques to the tequila-making process, such as using wine barrels instead of old bourbon barrels. Crazy? Absolutely. While Frank was telling his good friend and local county sheriff about his California tequila making plans, the immediate response was "Frank, you are so 5150!" (5150 is the California police code for a mentally disturbed or insane person).

Tequila 5150 is currently available in California (BevMo) and Florida "¦ keep an eye out for the spirit coming your way soon.

CORRECTION: Turns out that while Frank Leal is the first to bring in blue agave plants, Tequila 5150 is currently bottled down at Frankie’s Mexican distillery. As soon as his agave plants mature (which, apparently takes eight years) you’ll have 100% U.S. of A. tequila. Hence the Hecho en Mexico sticker on the bottle.

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