Stories about the famous bandits of the Sierra Madre are as much a part of Mexican culture as bullfighting, incendiary, passionate music and, of course, tequila. The best blue agave is grown just in those places where smugglers, robbers and other dashing people fled from justice in the old days. Everyone was welcomed by the Mother of Mountains – the Sierra Madre: both disenfranchised peon laborers, driven to despair by bitter need, and noble gentlemen who rebelled against royal power.
Some local landowners did business with bandits, others paid them dues, including good tequila. Many legends about Mexican robbers have survived to this day, and it would be strange if at least one brand of tequila was not named after these colorful characters.
Moreover, “El Bandido Negro” rightfully bears its name: this drink has such a mild taste and is so easy to drink that it gradually intoxicates, and there it is not far from “gangster” exploits.
Historical reference. Brothers John and Mario Trinchero started winemaking at home in Italy. In 1948, they bought a small, semi-abandoned distillery for next to nothing in the vicinity of the Californian city of Santa Elena, in the Napa Valley, the climate of which was ideal for growing grapes. The brothers had no ambitions, and therefore the wine was not even bottled at the Sutter Home factory: it was sold on tap to everyone right at the entrance.
This continued until the family business was headed by Louis Robert Trinchero, Mario’s eldest son. In 1987, Zinfandel, a premium wine produced by Sutter Home Winery, became the best-selling wine in the United States. Today, Sutter Home Winery is the fifth largest American alcohol producer. It is managed by Robert, Roger and Vera Trinchero.
In the 2004st century, the management of Sutter Home Winery decided to start producing tequila. The recipe for the drink was created in XNUMX by the specialists of the large Mexican corporation Casa Tequilera de Arandas. Her distillery is located in the city of Arandas, in the state of Jalisco, famous for its tradition of making tequila. The new mixed-class drink was supposed to be inexpensive, but of very high quality. Mexican tequileros were tasked with completely ridding tequila of the harsh alcohol odors that arise from the addition of cane sugar to the wort.
The Casa Tequilera de Arandas distillery is equipped with the latest technology and is as automated as possible. The latest technologies make it possible to squeeze the maximum juice out of the piña (“agave cones”), which reduces the cost of production. The drink is subjected to double distillation in stainless steel stills.
The name El Bandido Negro (“Black Bandit”) for tequila was not chosen by chance: Robert Trinchero, president of Sutter Home Winery, is interested in Mexican folklore. One of the company’s subsidiaries, Rebel Wine Co. LLC, even makes a whole line of Bandit wines.
For more than ten years, El Bandido Negro tequila has been a constant success with buyers. The demand for it is constantly increasing. Since 2010, the Minsk plant “Crystal” began to bottle it. It is easy to distinguish Mexican tequila from bottled in Minsk: the label of the original drink must have the inscription: “Hecho en Mechico” (“Made in Mexico”).
Types of tequila El Bandido Negro
There are two types of El Bandido Negro tequila with a strength of 38%:
- El Bandido Negro Blanco is a young colorless ordinary tequila containing 51% blue agave alcohols. The drink has a delicate taste and a silky aftertaste with a hint of meadow herbs;
- El Bandido Negro Gold – Blanco tequila with a touch of cane sugar syrup. The taste of the drink is sweetish, with floral and caramel notes.
