The Perfect Playlist: Pairing Música Tequila with Different Music Genres

Tequila is the number one drink to pair with almost any music genre.

If you’ve drank tequila in your life, you can probably pair that experience with a specific kind of music or social atmosphere. This pairing is what so many people learn to love. Strong drinks, great music, and social connections are what build communities that bring joy into our lives.

Tequila has inspired and partnered with music for quite a long time.

History of tequila and music

The history of music’s relationship with tequila can be traced back to Ranchera, a genre of traditional music of Mexico.

Tequila was a rich subject for the best Ranchera composers because of the emotions it evokes. Tequila goes hand in hand with love, heartbreak, patriotism, parties, spirituality, home, and family. In the middle of the 20th century, tequila began being paired with these themes, culturally and in the cinemas. This period is referred to as the “Golden age of Mexican cinema,” where composers wrote music for film.

The most recognizable faces, such as Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante, would appear in the fields and ranches and find their way to the bars. They would dress in charro suits, drink tequila, and sing, celebrating Mexican culture and creating it at the same time.

What’s important for tequila is it joins cultural touchpoints on screen, such as mariachi and charrería. Two women from Jalisco in particular, Lucha Reyes and Matilde Sánches Elías became incredibly influential Ranchera musicians. In film, you routinely see these figures appearing at the bar with a bottle of Tequila next to them.

Tequila became inseparable from music because of more than its roots. Tequila became a touchpoint for Ranchera music, but it moved further globally to become a touchpoint across music genres as well.

Pairing Tequila and Music

To pair tequila and music, we would like to recommend that you first understand the best way to taste tequila, the various kinds of tequila that are made, then a little bit about how tequila is paired with music now.

Tasting Tequila for Those New to Tequila

The first thing we recommend is to properly pair music and tequila is how to taste tequila.

While you can get as “sophisticated” as you like with tequila tasting, the easiest way to make sipping tequila approachable is to both taste it neat (by itself without ice). From here, you can shake or stir the tequila with ice to cool it and add a little lime if that’s what you like.

You first smell the tequila, then taste it, and finally exhale after you swallow. This allows you to fully taste the tequila in the glass. You can choose to swirl the drink in your glass to aerate it, and you can choose many different types of glasses that all effect the flavor, but for someone just wanted to drink tequila and enjoy the experience, it’s as simple as that.

Choosing Your Tequila

Most lower priced tequilas are called “mixto,” an informal name to describe tequila less than 100% agave. To be called tequila, a liquid must be 51% distilled agave, meaning cheap tequilas are roughly half tequila and as much as 49% of another, lower priced type of alcohol.

While you can drink and enjoy mixto, drinking a true, 100% agave tequila is an incredible experience, and it doesn’t have to break the bank. To start, you can drink Blanco, usually a completely clear liquid. Blanco tequila is either not aged at all or aged less than two months and offers the truest distilled agave taste.

Reposado tequila is the next rung up, aged between two and 11 months. Reposado is typically brown in color, due to the barrel aging process. Like many spirits, the barrel aging gives unique wood and vanilla notes that many people appreciate.

Añejo refers to any tequila aged between one and three years. Añejo is even darker than reposado, and the flavors imparted by the aging process are even more pronounced. As you move further into aged tequilas, you get into a territory that is more familiar to whiskey or brandy lovers.

Extra añejo is any tequila aged longer than three years, and there are even more nuanced categories than what we’ve mentioned here. This is just scratching the surface of how tequila is aged and named as a result, especially when you start approaching luxury tequilas.

Pairing Your Tequila with Music

With a stronger understanding of the roots of tequila, how to drink tequila, and how to taste tequila, you’re ready to start pairing tequila with music you love to create unique and special experiences.

Meaningful experiences happen when you choose to combine multiple senses and emotions together. While tequila is often best enjoyed with conversation and laughter, listening to music you love is at the heart of what tequila means to so many people, as seen from the roots in Mexican cinema. By pairing different tequilas with all kinds of music genres, you can further influence your tasting experience.

What we didn’t mention earlier was the ways all kinds of modern artists have used tequila in their music in other genres, which is a great place to start when crafting the perfect playlist to taste tequila to.

From Tequila Sunrise by the Eagles to Tequila Shots by Kid Cudi, you can find a song about tequila in almost any genre of music you love. From there, it comes down to choosing specific tequilas and songs that you feel fit the energy you’re wanting to create for your experience. That could mean either choosing your tequila and seeing where it leads you, or you could choose your music and drink what it makes you feel.

Pair Your Music with Música Tequila

For tequila drinkers who love music, Música Tequila is one of the best statements you can make, whether you’re buying a bottle for your home or ordering something at the bar. Many tequila drinkers will stick with one brand and taste each offering, seeing what a particular expression tastes like.

Música has a truly unique and delicious blanco, resposado, and añejo in their lineup, meaning you can experience how age effects tequila. At the heart of Música Tequila is a love for music and incredible experiences that come with pairing music and tequila. Música also partners with Save the Music, giving a percentage of all proceeds to the nation’s leading nonprofit for music education.

Take a sip of Música the next time you want to listen to music, whether at home or at the bar.