(no subject)

Just so we all know, I made it home safely from the Big NYC festival. I'll post more thoughts tomorrow, but I wanted to hand out four MadPropz firstly:

To maeglin for letting me crash at his place and going out of his way to make sure we were all taken care of. You are truly one of the most generous people I have met.

To Nen and ramavina for picking me up at the airport.

To hamadryad (accent on the second syllable) for letting me play the role of Huggy J. Huggerton, the Huggiest hugger in Huggyland. She's cuddly and she rocks ever so hard. I neeeed to seeeee her again.

To wicky for being my tour guide and for being nice to me by only giving me sissy "love-punches" instead of full-blown New Yawker punches. The biggest kisses for you! PSHT PSHT!

And now I am going to go to bed, where I will apparently snore like a motherfucker.

(no subject)

Marcia asked me what she needs to know about tequila because she's going to Puerta Villarta on Friday. So, here's:

Joey's Quick-Ass Guide to Tequila

1. The best tequilas are 100% Blue Agave. If it doesn't say "100% Blue (Azul) Agave" on the label, then I don't recommend it. Crappy brands like Cuervo and Sauza are called 'mixtos' and are 50-99% real tequila with the rest made up of miscellaneous crap. Ewwwww.
   
2. There are three categories of tequila, as listed below. Generally, the more aged a tequila is, the darker its color and the more it costs.
   • Blanco (sometimes called plata or silver) - this tequila is unaged. It has the purest agave flavor, but can be harsh if you're not used to tequila. If you continue to drink a lot of tequila, you'll want to explore these more.
     
   • Reposado - this tequila is rested in pine or oak barrels for 2 to 12 months. It's more mellow than a blanco, but still retains good agave flavor. Some of my favorite tequilas are reposados.
     
   • Anejo - this tequila is rested in barrels for more than 12 months. very mellow in flavor, but all that time on wood means that the agave flavors are weak.
   
   
3. Some favorite brands:
   • Herradura - my favorite "cheap" 100% agave tequila (cheap is relative, this bottle will cost about $25). The blanco is too harsh, but the reposado is nice.
     
   • 1921 - I picked up a limited edition reposado on my last trip to Mexico, and it was one of my favorie bottles ever.
     
   • El Tesoro - If I could only have one brand of tequila for the rest of my life, it would be this brand. The blanco is my favorite, and the reposado and anejo are great, too. They also make a muy anejo (extra aged) called Paradiso that is INCREDIBLE. For $130 a bottle, it should be. I've only ever had one shot of it (for $19).
     
   • Patron - The most popular of the super-premiums. The anejo is among my favorites, the reposado is very good. The blanco not as much.
     
   • Casa Noble - My favorite super-premium. It's just sooooo tasty.

That should be enough to get you started, Marcia! Here's a link to another good guide to tequila I've found.