Sunkissed with serenity – Winnipeg Free Press


One step inside the El Baston del Rey distillery and I quickly discovered I’ve been doing tequila all wrong since, well, forever.

The whole lick-the-salt-and-suck-on-the-lime routine? Strictly amateur hour.

Everybody on the tour of the family-owned facility, located along a winding, mountainous road through the jungle about 30 km south of Puerto Vallarta, was given a quick tutorial in how to do tequila right.

First, you’ve got to breathe deeply. Take a few breaths in and out before you take a sip — or entire swig — of your drink.

Second, DO NOT go anywhere near limes or salt. If you feel the need to numb your tastebuds that way, you’re drinking the cheap stuff.

“Our flavour is so smooth, we consider it perfect by itself,” says Hugo Maldonado, tequila presenter at El Baston.

He’s right.



This is not a postcard, it’s the view every day from your oceanfront room at the Rui Palace Pacifico. (Geoff Kirbyson / Winnipeg Free Press)

The tour features mini-shots of every kind of tequila that El Baston makes. Maldonado outlines the ingredients and characteristics of each one as he moves up the menu. As he gets to the third-most expensive variety, “Reposado,” he tells his guests that it’s the perfect drink to serve to your friends.

The second-most expensive bottle, “Anejo,” is so good you’ll only want to pour it for your family.

And the best one, “Extra Anejo”? Well, you keep that one for yourself.

Obviously.

All three were so delicious and so smooth that I asked for seconds, a request that was granted immediately.

In fact, they tasted like no other tequila I’d ever had before. Rather than choking it down as quickly as possible and scrunching up my face, I sipped them to let the oak barrel-flavour swirl around my mouth. As an added bonus, I didn’t wince for even a second as I tried each one.

Maldonado has one last piece of advice — try as many different kinds of tequila to determine which one you like best.

“There is nothing like a favourite tequila,” he says.



Puerto Vallarta is much more than a resort area. Among the picturesque streets and buildings of the town itself is the market adjacent to the Centro Cultural Cuale, the local culture centre. (Geoff Kirbyson / Winnipeg Free Press)

Amen to that. But what if you’ve got two favourite tequilas?

Well, that’s what the gift shop on the way out is for. El Baston’s staff will happily bubble-wrap your bottles so they’ll make it back safely to your liquor cabinet back home.

Tequila is much more than just something to drink while you’re relaxing in Mexico. It’s an integral part of the country’s economy and national pride. It’s derived from the blue agave plant and is native to the state of Jalisco in southwestern Mexico. You don’t have to look far for blue agave at El Baston, a few of the plants are growing right by the front door.

The El Baston tour is just one of the sites you can visit in Puerto Vallarta if you venture outside of your resort. And trust us, your Mexican experience will be that much more enjoyable if you set foot in shops and restaurants that don’t care about the coloured bracelet on your wrist from your all-inclusive resort.

Consider using the 80-20 rule. Spend 80 per cent of your time lounging around the pool or on the beach with ice cubes clinking around in your umbrella drink and use the other 20 per cent to go off campus.



When you venture off-campus, make sure you bring some extra pesos to order dos cervezas. (Geoff Kirbyson / Winnipeg Free Press)

No trip to Puerto Vallarta is complete without some shopping, so on our way back from El Baston, we stopped into the market adjacent to the Centro Cultural Cuale, the local culture centre.

This vibrant market sells everything from jewelry, clothing and hats to hammocks and tourist-friendly licence plates with sayings in individual letters sliced off actual licence plates such as “TEQUILAPORFAVOR,” “SAVEWATERDRINKBEER” and “NOMONEYNOHONEY.”

The Malecón boardwalk is a great place to people watch, breathe in the salty air and buy home-made honey drinks from local vendors. There is also a made-for-tourists photo site featuring “Puerto Vallarta” in colourful four-foot-high letters overlooking the ocean.

If you’re a fan of Cercle Moliere or Club Tropicana shows, you’ll love the Rhythms of the Night extravaganza. Your evening starts off with a half-hour sunset cruise to Las Caletas, a beach located across the Bay of Banderas. There are two seatings for a candle-lit buffet dinner — one before the show and one after — overlooking the water. The show begins with a minstrel telling his story and then the performers take over. The gravity-defying acts include a quintet of acrobats first on a teeter-totter and then a giant swing, a trio twirling giant flaming batons and a human pyramid constructed by people who appear to be made entirely of rubber.

The fun continues on the cruise back as the entertainment staff — who on the way out didn’t do much more than tell you about the show you were about to see — suddenly don sequinned jackets and other fancy outfits for a lip sync and dance show. Even the bartender had his own choreography while he poured drinks.

Tequila, please. Neat, no lime, no salt.

geoffkirbyson@mymts.net



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