On June 4, we opened our doors for a full house and an exclusive evening with 1800 Tequila. Three expressions, one presenter, and a room of guests who came ready to actually taste.
The lineup was deliberate. We poured the Cristalino first, an Añejo filtered to crystal clarity that strips the color without stripping the time spent in oak. Then Guachimonton, the red bottle named after the circular pyramids of Jalisco, an Añejo rested in American oak with the kind of warmth that opens a conversation. We closed on Milenio, the Extra Añejo finished in French oak cognac casks, and the room went quiet the way it does when something earns the silence.
Ashraf Assaf led the tasting. He walked the room through the origins of Tequila itself, from the blue Weber agave to the regions of Mexico where the spirit can legally be made, to the moment in 1800 when tequila was first aged in oak and the category as we know it began. He also taught us something most guests had never considered. Premium tequila is meant to be tasted from a tall flute glass, similar to a champagne flute, with a slim body that channels the aromas upward the way it does for fine sparkling wine. The shape of the glass is part of the spirit, not an afterthought. The room learned. The questions kept coming. That is the mark of a good presenter and an engaged audience.
We paired each pour with cigars chosen to bring out the character of the spirit rather than compete with it. The result was the kind of evening that does not need explanation while you are in it.
A few honest takeaways from the night. Tequila, when treated with the respect it deserves, holds its own against any spirit on the shelf, and the Milenio in particular made the case that aged tequila belongs in the same conversation as fine cognac and aged rum. The category is also misunderstood in Lebanon. Most guests arrived with one set of assumptions about tequila, including the glass it should be served in, and left with another. That gap is the opportunity for any venue willing to take the spirit seriously.
Full houses happen when the offer is specific. A generic tasting night fills half the room. A curated evening with three expressions, a presenter who knows the material, the right cigars, and the right glassware fills it twice over.
Thank you to Ashraf Assaf for the depth he brought to the room, to 1800 Tequila for the lineup, and to every guest who joined us. The next event is already in motion.
