Bottle Rocket: Austin-based Ambhar Tequila

Once upon a time, tequila was best known as a cheap party drink that required sugar and lime–and slushy ice–to taste palatable. Who sipped when you could slurp?

But tequila got old. Tequila got tired. Tequila had a drinking problem: The new cocktail culture was leaving the flashy party girl behind.

So Tequila did what lots of troubled souls do. Tequila went to rehab. Tequila got a makeover, paying special attention to ingredients, distillation techniques, packaging, and marketing, finally emerging with a purer soul, a cleaner image– and a loftier price.

Meet one of the new tequilas. Her name is Ambhar, whose name is the same as the goddess of Blue Agave plants. She’s moved uptown, to Austin, where she can mix and mingle with sophisticates who can afford her $100 price tag. She has a Web site. She has a Facebook page. She tweets. She’s on YouTube.

Her three varieties of tequila are hand-made form 100% Blue Agave harvested from a blend of pinas grown in the lowlands of Mexico (the true Tequila region) and the highlands. Ambhar’s spirits are fermented then distilled five times in copper pot stills then bottled three ways:  an Anejo aged for two years in old Jack Daniels barrels; a Reposada, aged 364 days (one more day and it becomes anejo); and the sweet, floral Platinum variety, which is a best-bet for cocktails.

Want to know more? Check out Ambhar’s Web site here.