There are only two alcoholic beverages that I would go out of my way to find. One—a beer called La Bécasse Gueuze—is basically impossible to purchase in the United States. The other was given to me as a Father’s Day gift last weekend: 1921 Tequila Cream, also known as 1921 Crema de Tequila. I’m sharing it on Backstage mostly because I wanted to spread the word about something that I consider to be pretty special and hard to locate, and also because I was inspired by John Gruber’s Tequila link today.
I’m not going to claim to be a tequila connoisseur; actually, I probably had more of it on my honeymoon last year than at every prior time in my life put together. But when my wife and I came across a shop that was selling 1921 Tequila Cream, which shouldn’t be confused with the other three types of pure tequila sold by the small Mexican company Corporacion Licorera 1910 S.A. de C.V., we were enthralled. Introduced in the United States only a few years ago, 1921 Tequila Cream is to tequila what Baileys Irish Cream is to whiskey, a softer, universally palatable version that could as easily be found in a dessert as in an after-dinner drink.
Yet, just like comparing standard tequilas to standard whiskeys, the 1921 has fire and spice that beg to be enjoyed quickly, rather than stored away; hints of caramel, coffee, and cocoa are also evident in the light brown, sweet and creamy drink. Bottles we bought in Mexico, and later in California, always seemed to disappear within a day or two of the cork coming out.
Finding 1921 in Western New York is basically impossible, which is why my wife had her family bring a bottle cross-country from Southern California as a gift. You might be able to find it where you live—the company has a non-comprehensive store locator, as well as a variety of Internet merchants selling it for around $24 a bottle—and if so, it is most definitely worth trying. Let me know what you think if you can rustle some up. And better yet, if you can find La Bécasse Gueuze (aka Belle Vue Gueuze) outside of Belgium or France, let me know; we might just have to arrange a trade.
