Calle 23 Blanco Tequila

Calle 23 is the tequila of a French microbiologist who learned to distill agave in South Africa before moving to Jalisco — and uses a different yeast for each expression. Sophie Decobecq named the brand for the street sign across from the bar where her team celebrated finally nailing the fermentation; it's pronounced kai-yay, and it's been an enthusiast's secret and a bartender's favorite since the late 2000s. The Blanco is 100% highland blue Weber agave from between Tepatitlán and Arandas — seven-year plants averaging 40 kilos — cooked at low pressure in stainless autoclaves for seven hours and cooled slowly for three, fermented 72 hours in stainless with two yeasts isolated from agave juice, double-distilled in stainless pots with copper coils, cellulose-filtered, and bottled at 40% ABV, additive-free, at NOM 1545 in San José de Gracia. Difford's: herbaceous roast agave with white pepper, faint mint, and cut grass. De Wine Spot: florals, honeysuckle, and herbs, then crisp apple, tropical pineapple, and ripe pear with black pepper for lift. Tequila Whisperer: wonderfully balanced, subtle at first, and seductive in the way it grows on you until the glass is empty. Honest note: it's a highland blanco of precision and restraint — the science shows in its cleanness, and drinkers who want a rustic, funky blanco should look at a valley tahona bottle. For a Margarita, a Tommy's, or neat. Kai-yay.

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