Made from 100% Weber blue agave, VIVIR Tequila Blanco is double distilled and blended with local water from a volcanic spring close to the distillery in Jalisco. Nose This beautiful, colour changing tequila from The Butterfly Cannon is an instant favourite. Whether you’re already a die-hard tequila fan or new to the spirit, this modern take on tequila is guaranteed to excite you. Out of the bottle it’s pale blue in colour and transforms into a light purple once your mixer is added. Despite this excellent showmanship, it’s not all style over substance. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services.

Our panel – made up of 10-accredited spirits experts and tequila-loving consumers – put 27 blanco, reposado and anejo tequilas to the test. VIVIR Tequila was born from the love of the agave-based spirit that two good friends Paul Hayes and Navindh Grewal shared. A number of years ago they started to question why it was so difficult to find quality 100% agave tequila in the UK without going to a specialist bar or retailer. In 2016 they finally made the decision to change perceptions of t equila in the UK and create their own line of premium 100% agave t equilas. It took them 3 years to develop as they wanted to get it right and in 2019 they finally introduced VIVIR Tequila to the UK. We chatted to Paul about how VIVIR Tequila is changing the perception of tequila across the UK and beyond, the business’ zero waste ethos and his expertise and experience of working with agave: The qualities of the sweet Weber blue agave are ever-present and the smoothness of the Blanco is very impressive. Suggested Serve Because of this my business partner, Nav, and I started to understand why quality tequilas were quite rare in the UK. We kept getting told the same thing time and time again – there are no brands based here so the knowledge and education on the category is almost zero. People know it as a shot, and that’s it. We thought there was a huge opportunity to create a tequila we knew would be of high quality, tasty and could show consumers that tequila is so much more than a horrible shot that has to be washed down with salt and lime. Because of this, VIVIR was born.

Look for 100% agave tequila printed on the bottle label. This designation is only allowed to appear on bottles containing tequila that have no added sugars. When sugar (or corn) get added to the fermentation tank, the tequila style is called a mixto. How do you drink tequila? Añejo – is aged tequila. This stays in the barrels for longer – generally between one and three years – and the barrels themselves are smaller, which adds to the flavour. People sometimes think we’re just chancers coming into the market but then they try our tequilas and every time realise that they’re really good. We’ve been in the market for a long time and we know what we’re doing and always wanted to create something to be proud of. Tell us about your distillery and why you chose it. Unlike some wines, with their complex classification systems, tequila is simply categorised by age as follows: Blanco

Premium Tequila brand Vivir has launched a coffee liqueur to fill that gap in the market left by the discontinuation of Patrón XO Café.

Sharp, smooth, fruity and oaky, here’s our selection of the best tequila for every occasion

Like champagne, tequila production is a closely guarded secret and must be made and bottled within a specific area in Mexico. It can only be made from blue agave (unlike smoky mezcal which can be created from over 30 different varieties). There have been many tequila brands to come out of the UK in the past few years even from celebrities – what was the inspiration behind VIVIR? The different tastes are quite distinctive. With blanco, the agave flavours tend to be more intense, while reposado or añejo are usually smoother, mellower and more complex – and just like other spirits aged in casks, they can take on the flavours of the wood. How do I know it’s tequila? Named after the spirit’s birthplace, El Tequileño has been producing tequila for over 60 years. Since its launch in 1959, sustainability has also been at the heart of El Tequileño, constantly adapting to optimise their process and positively impact local conservation efforts. Having rested in American Oak barrels for three months, the brand’s Reposado tequila is made using agave cooked in steam pressure autoclaves. The full agave flavour is complemented by further hints of vanilla, oak and a dry finish. Best sipped neat or enjoyed in a margarita.

When I went to Mexico to get the agave syrup from the distilleries, even the guys there found it a bit weird as we were buying it in vats to bring over to the UK. You can’t work with those guys and not drink your own bodyweight in tequila. I was a bit wary but started to drink what they produced and loved it! I then found out that what we mainly had in the UK was Mixto, which uses 51% Weber blue agave and 49% something else like non-matured agave or corn syrup that I was clearly allergic to. The 100% agave tequila was brilliant and I didn’t understand why we didn’t have it in the UK. Nav Grewal and Paul Hayes, Co-Founders of VIVIR Tequila All of our tequila is produced in partnership with Casa Maestri, a fifth-generation distillery built on the rich red soils of Jalisco, Mexico, the birthplace of tequila, which allows us to produce the smoothest and most character-filled tequila you will ever drink. What are your predictions for the tequila market for 2024 and what new trends do you think we will see?I had already been working with agave for over 16 years and knew the industry well from launching bircher muesli in the UK. In 2016 we finally made the decision to change perceptions of Tequila in the UK and create our own line of premium 100% agave tequilas. It took us 3 years to develop and hundreds of iterations as we wanted to get it right and in 2019 finally introduced VIVIR Tequila to the UK.