ABQ Love's Tequila and Takos

ABQ Love's Tequila and Takos

            On September 29, 2012, Taco and Tequila lovers gathered at the State Fair Grounds for the first annual Takos & Tequila Festival. This outdoor event was located in the Hispanic Cultural Center in the northwest corner of the fair grounds.

            With a 10$ entry fee, this allowed guests to try four half-ounce samples of various tequilas of your choice. Guests also received two free taco samples. Upon checking people's I.D.'s, you were given a white wrist band and stamp showing you were of age.

            Not only were adults aloud into this event, but also children. The festival provided many fun games and activities for the kids. For example, there were jumpers and piñatas to keep the children active, and there were also many tents that sold candy, piñatas, and toys. 

            First and foremost, when visitors walk in they are overwhelmed with the amount of taco tents. Businesses from all over the city were set up cooking and selling tacos for majority of the day. Some familiar businesses that were selling tacos were The Last Call, Cecillia's, and Perrico's. There were about eight or nine different locations in the event for you to get the taco you desired.

            There were at least fifteen different stands with over 50 different types of tequila.  A couple of the local bars and restaurants were selling and sampling tequila such as Imbibe and El Pinto. If you wanted more than just a sample, you could purchase a bottle of tequila from any one of these tents.

            The most popular of all the stands was the line for the margaritas.  Some people even stood in line for up to thirty minutes just to get their drink. “I’m here for the margarita’s and the margarita’s only,” said Cathy Wescott a local from the Albuquerque area.  There were two different types of margaritas to choose from one being a yellow lime margarita the other being a pink strawberry margarita.

            Local IQ Herradura Margarita Throw-down included Albuquerque's top bartenders it was judged by four official members of the U.S. Bartenders' Guild.  Over 35 local guest judges were involved for the fans choice award.   The guest judges were locals that paid 25$ to get to sample all of the eight different margaritas.

            There were all different kinds of margaritas made.  Some of them include blackberry, cucumber and pepper, pineapple, and even green chili margarita. "We are always trying to come up with new drinks and new ideas, its fun for us and it’s great for the customer," Kate Gerwin a local bartender at Imbibe located in Nob Hill. 

            Everyone that came and participated in this first annual tequila and Taco festival was a part of a great event. When asking some of the locals they all were very pleased with the event and all were excited about the festival next year.  "My husband and I love to come to events like this, great food, good drinks, we will be back next year," said Cathy Wescott.