Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/306378
may 2014 / the tasting panel / 67 appropriately flamboyant way to enjoy Patrón's top-tier silver tequila—and a great marketing coup for the restaurant. According to Nora Shields, General Manager at Nick & Sam's, "Everyone wants to see what a $100 Margarita looks like, and once that cart comes out and people see that it's Gran Patrón Platinum, there's no shortage of people who want to try it." Shields also says that Gran Patrón Platinum has become increasingly popular at the bar, where people order it straight up, especially when they're celebrating or closing a deal. No wonder the restaurant is one of the best- known places in Dallas to close a business transaction. A Bordeaux Influence For Gran Patrón Burdeos, Patón Spirits looked from the hills of Jalisco to the cellars of Bordeaux, to source wine barrels for this unique tequila's aging regime. (Burdeos is Spanish for Bordeaux.) First matured in a blend of American and French oak barrels and aged for a minimum of 12 months, the tequila is then distilled once again before it is racked into vintage Bordeaux barrels, hand-selected from the region's great châteaux, to add those distinctive fla- vors—vanilla, raisins, oak and dried fruit—found in the best Bordeaux wines. The priciest offering in the Gran Patrón portfolio, Burdeos has a suggested retail price of $499. Like the other tequilas in the Gran Patrón tier, Burdeos is made for sipping—but it finds itself in places where not just any sipping tequila can hold its own. At celebrated Los Angeles Cal-Japanese restaurant Sushi Roku, for example, where David Horowitz, Bar Manager and spirits buyer at the Santa Monica location (one of five operated by cutting- edge Innovative Dining Group), says that his sophisticated clientele sips Gran Patrón Burdeos alongside the restaurant's inventive sushi. "People are looking for something other than wine and saké," offers Horowitz, who says his celebrity customers naturally expect high-end spirits on his backbar, where Burdeos stands tall alongside the likes of Louis XIII Cognac and The Macallan 25 Year Old Scotch Whisky. And Gran Patrón Piedra? Horowitz doesn't miss a beat: "Without a doubt, we'll be carrying it." For more information on the entire Gran Patrón line and Patrón's other spirits products, see www.patrontequila.com. Gran Patrón Burdeos is aged in hand-selected vintage Bordeaux barrels—a sipping tequila par excellence. The "Millionaire's Margarita" served at Nick & Sam's Steakhouse in Dallas features Gran Patrón Platinum and is prepared tableside. "There's no shortage of people who want to try it," says GM Nora Shields. TP0514_034-71.indd 67 4/24/14 11:04 PM