Subscribe also Check out our forum and the new Review Browser.

Liquor Review: Tarantula Azul

Published on October 28th, 2008 in Liqueurs by Wade

I don't know why its blue I know there are a lot of people out there who have a really hard time drinking tequila. There is a name for this group of people, and they are called “little girls.” Little girls are easy to spot at the bar. They are usually the ones whining about how they’ll take of shot of anything except tequila. Another easy way to spot these people is they can often be seen taking a tequila shot that has 8 ounces of salt on the rim of the glass, which they lick off, then quickly chase with a whole lime. They do all this, yet in the end, they sit and bitch about how much the tequila burns. I’m sure everyone knows someone that falls in this group. So this review is for the little girls out there that can’t handle man tequila. If you want to go get the little girl now and tell her I have something for her, go ahead. I’ll wait. Okay, is everyone back? Here we go. I’d like to introduce to you Tarantula Azul. Tarantula Azul isn’t really a tequila but a tequila liqueur. What does that mean? It means it’s a tequila that has built-in training wheels for all the little girls out there.

On the Tarantula page, they don’t offer up anything on its history or how it’s made. They mostly just offer drink recipes. All I discovered was that this tequila is blened and bottled in Italy. But they did have this kick ass promo picture. It's kick-ass, right?

Tarantula Azul has a very unique taste. At first, Azul tastes a little like honey but immediately opens up into a strong citrus flavor. While this flavor explosion is happening in your mouth, you will start to notice a familiar burn taking over your tongue. That’s when you realize your old friend tequila is making an appearance. If it weren’t for that burn, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that I was even drinking tequila. For a lot of people this is a good thing, but if you are like me and enjoy tasting your poison, it’s kind of a letdown. The sweet citrus flavor seems good at first, but after a few sips, I was tired of the taste. That sweet flavor just became annoying to me. So I did what I do with anything that starts to annoy me, I drowned it. (Sorry Kelly, your cat Mr. PusPus didn’t run away.) In this case, I didn’t use the ocean but a bit of Sprite© instead. The Sprite took the burn away, but that’s about all it did. The Tarantula Azul mixed with Sprite makes for a more fun drink, but the sweet flavor still started to annoying to me pretty quickly. The sweet taste just overpowered my tastebuds after awhile. This is very much a “Girl Drink Drunk” liqueur. I think a better mixer would be vodka, or maybe Tarantula Azul would be better suited for some kind of ultra-prenium margarita.

Now I know what you are thinking: Will Tarantula Azul have you hosting your own Pants-Off Dance-Off in the bar? The answer is probably not. Azul is 70-proof, but you are more likely to become hyper way before you become drunk. I went through 6 shots before I decided to mix it with a little vodka to get my drunk going. Azul felt more like an energy drink with a decent amount of alcohol. Unfortunately, I got that energy drink crash the next morning. I awoke feeling groggy and out of it. Plus, my body was sore in ways I didn’t understand. I’m not saying it had anything to do with the liqueur. I’m just saying I’m getting old.

The going price on this 70-proof tequila gem is around $26. You can probably find it cheaper at your local place of booze sales. We found ours for $17 because the store was going out of business. Now remember there are Tarantula mini mixed drinks that are sold for around $6 that are perfect. We even wrote an article about them. Tarantula Azul is very much a woman’s tequila…well, women and all you little girls out there. It’s tequila with its own training wheels. The taste isn’t bad in small doses, plus you can get a hyper buzz off it. Tarantula Azul is a good drink to wake you up for a long night of exorcising the sober demon from the body. So next time you are heading on your weekend trek, go ahead and start with one or two rounds of a drink that has Tarnatula Azul in it.

Sipability – 6.5

Mixability – 8.0

Drunkability – 5.0

Hangover-ability – 3.0

Bang for the Buck – 5.0

Overall - 5.5