Don Julio 1942

Don Julio González named this one for the year he started, aged 17 and short of money, in 1942. It didn't arrive until 2002, built as a 60th-anniversary tribute, and it has become the bottle a whole generation reaches for when they want to show tequila can be sipped like a fine aged spirit rather than shot.

The agave is Blue Weber grown in the highlands of Los Altos, Jalisco, where the red iron-rich soil and altitude push the plants towards a sweeter, fruitier character. This is an añejo held for around 30 months in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels — long for the category, and you taste every month of it. The colour alone, deep burnished gold, tells you where this is going.

The nose leads with warm vanilla and caramel, roasted agave underneath, then a lift of toasted oak and dried fruit. On the palate it's genuinely creamy: toffee, dark chocolate, a whisper of soft spice, all held together without heat. The finish is long, sweet and oaky, the kind that keeps you sitting with the glass. A drop of water opens the fruit further if you want it, though it hardly needs the help.

This is a celebration pour — the birthday, the deal closed, the long dinner that refuses to end. Treat it the way you'd treat a good cognac.

How to Serve

Neat, at room temperature, in a copita or a short tumbler — no ice, which flattens the oak and the sweetness. Give it a few minutes in the glass before the first sip.

Where to Drink It

The Connaught Bar for the theatre of a proper agave list. Dukes Bar in St James's when you want quiet and a serious pour. Scarfes Bar at the Rosewood for a late one by the fire.

Food Pairings

Wonderful with a square of 70% dark chocolate, or after a meal with a plate of good aged Manchego and quince.