A Blue Agave Drink With Unique Norwegian Roots

UNI Tequila is a unique, organic, low calorie, smooth tequila – it is colorless, and has a slightly fruity finish. An unusual drink, it was recently awarded Double Gold in Taste at the prestigious SIP Awards.

The mission of UNI Tequila is to allow the consumer to have a smooth, soft tequila, allowing him or her to experience the taste, both beginning and finish, of organic, fresh ingredients. Uni produces an organic rested Blanco Tequila, aged in oak barrels with no pesticides and nothing artificial, all under the watchful eye of founder and CEO Metta Risdal.

Her life is as unique as her product, as she is not from Mexico, but Norway, from a small town north of Lindesnes, the most southerly coast of Norway. In the past years she has settled in the United States, first in New York, then in Jupiter, Florida where she now resides.

Pairing her love of the taste of Tequila, with years of research, she has found the best methods of harvesting and creating a Tequila that is low calorie, light and does not sting the throat,  Metta then set out to create her own organic tequila, for the more wellness, and health-conscious consumer.

Uni Organic Blanco Tequila is a small batch producer, exclusively crafting one bottle at a time. They hand select 100% estate-grown organic blue agave. Uni goes through a unique extraction process that allows the tequila to become perfectly smooth, with aroma, taste and finish of vanilla, and citrus with complex floral notes.

Now, the brand can be found in many restaurants in Palm Beach, NYC, and the Hamptons; including 1000 North, Lucky Shuck, Beacon, Waxins, Bicé, Sant Ambroeus, Tutto il Giorno, Casa Lever, and Gurney’s resorts. Uni continues to expand its reach across South Florida and New York and will soon become an established brand, moving West in the crafted Tequila space.

JustLuxe was grateful to interview Metta recently and inquire more about how her Norwegian background has associated with her unique Tequila brand.

How did you, a Norwegian not far from Lindesnes, Norway, where Aquavit was a popular beverage, ever decide to make a unique drink like Uni Tequila?

First, one of my issues as a Norwegian, is that I don’t care for with cold weather. About fifteen years ago, I decided to move to New York, where I became a bartender. I came to know the stronger tequilas that way.  I knew it was a warming drink, and, as far as my being in New York goes,  even though it can be cold, it is a lot warmer than where I came from. But I still felt that in my experience with Tequila, something was missing.

So from New York, I went to Puerto Vallarta, México, where it was warm most of the time. It was around then that I started to do my research into tequila brewing and harvesting.

I knew there were more Tequila possibilities than what I tasted. Sometimes it tasted sharp, and sometimes, intense and biting. I knew, somehow, it could be less so, and with a softer balance, so I went about doing research into how that could happen. That was my mission, basically.

And what did you discover?

Where do I begin?  It is all in the Blue Agave, a type of succulent that grows in dry, hot desert environments. From the Blue Agave, agave nectar is produced. And Blue Agave is cultivated, grown and harvested specifically for the tequila industry.  This plant, called Agave Tequilana, generates a premium agave nectar product, which is the basis for most Tequilas.

But there are many more factors that create our great UNI Blanco tequila: The agave source, the agave crushing method, the agave cooking method, in our case in the older, more traditional ovens, the number of times distilled, the water source, and, of course, the experience of the master distiller in making a distinctive blanco tequila.

Uni Crystal Blanco Tequila goes through an innovative extraction process method that makes the tequila exceptionally smooth.  It also has a crisp taste with hints of vanilla, citrus & pear notes, and even, as one consumer told me, it has a note of olive.

The unique qualities of Uni are indeed in the lightness, and the unique somewhat fruity finish: how is Uni’s taste derived in that way?

The subtlety of flavor comes, to my mind, from two things: the organicity of the farming methods we use, and of course, how to use time.  There is an understanding of time in the art and science of distilling, and we must also know the proper time of its aging in oak barrels also. Both – our organic farming methods and our knowledge of time use has gone into making a most unique Blanco Tequila.

In five years, how do you see the future of Uni Tequila?

Well, I would like to see it in many new restaurants that often accommodate and satisfy a new type of wellness, with changing taste habits that involve lighter cocktails.  Of course, eventually, I would like to introduce it to Scandanavia, and eventually Norway, my homeland.