A few months ago, I wouldn't have known enough about Tequila to tell you that it's actually a city. Upon digging down into Mexico, I wasn't exactly shocked to find that out that it existed, but I'd be damned if I didn't visit. I've been to the Guinness brewery and Jamison Whiskey Distillery, and I stopped in Napa Valley on my way south in Saga 4. Tequila is another one of those destinations, and it turns out it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I HAD to make a visit. I just didn't realize how much I was about to learn about what I thought was just some party drink that people claim to make them horny. It's a lot more than that, here in Jalisco.
Guadalajara is the nearest major city, and Julie-Anne and I, my French-Canadian Travel Companion, decided we would do a tour from our hostel out and back. As I am on a motorcycle, I have nothing to gain from drinking tequila samples and riding the motorcycle, so a tour guide driving us was deemed the best option.
The Tequila region is a 'valley' of sorts between the Tequila Volcano and the Rio Grande de Santiago river. The rugged slopes and hills between the two have extremely fertile soil due to the volcano, which is classified as 'extinct' (not dormant or active) and has not erupted in 220,000 years. Tequila is grown, made, and sold out of this region- the only tequila-growing part of planet Earth.
THIS STORY DOESN'T BEGIN WITH THE WHITE MAN (ENTIRELY)
When the Spanish cowboys came across this region, they'd found that the local native tribes had been using the Blue Agave plant (related to Aloe) to create alcoholic drinks. Hand tools are used to cut the long arms off of the plant and the core or base beneath is what's used to make the drink. When it's harvested and ready to be processed, it kind of looks like a big pineapple.
The natives had been making a practice of this for as long as they'd been in the region, so the origins of their techniques have been lost to time. Estimates at museums I'd found had put their techniques going back 2-3 thousand years. Their finished product was known as 'mescal wine' and was impure, gritty, and gave terrible hangovers.
The Spanish cowboys brought with them distillation techniques that they'd known from making wine and turned the mescal wine into "Tequila" for the first time.
The word for the drink Tequila comes from the region. The region's name comes from the Náhuatl (or Aztec) word for 'place of work or trade'. The word tequio refers to the task of field men.
The cowboys quite literally called it 'Firewater', but they'd just created the first (and most basic) form of Tequila, Tequila Blanco.
STYLES
When they wanted to get a little more serious about it, the distillers started cultivating the Blue Agave en masse so they could make a business out of the liquor. They then started adding aging techniques which give us the colors and styles of tequila that we're more familiar with today. They began putting the Tequila Blanco into oak barrels and aging them, giving them flavor and hues that go from sandy-yellow to deep brown.
Take the Tequila Blanco and put it in a Oak Barrell for a few months? It's considered 'rested' or "Reposado"
Leave it in the Barrel for a few years? It's now 'aged' or Añejo.
Double the time from aged? It's now 'extra aged' or 'Extrañejo'. This is very expensive. It's a new designation by the tequila governing body as recent as 2006.
Take that Extrañejo tequila and distill it AGAIN to take out the tannins and aged color and it's white again, but keeps its smooth flavor. This is known as 'Cristalino.' You can also make Cristalino out of Reposado and more commonly, Añejo.
The harshness of the alcohol mellows as it passes each day in a wood barrel, taking on its flavors. Aging it in a barrel also causes the tequila to evaporate, leaving lower volumes of liquid inside. This makes any aged tequilas more expensive as there is less volume to sell.
PURITY
There are only 5 states, out of the 33 in Mexico, that can grow Blue Agave. The plant requires no irrigation or watering, so the region must have the right conditions to grow it. Because of its scarcity, there is only so much Blue Agave out there to make tequila with. The world has too high of a demand. Because of this, there are 2 types of all 5 styles sold. 100% Agave, and mixtos. According to the tequila governing body:
Mixtos must have at least 51% Agave and the rest can be filled with sugars.
100% Agave Tequila is the purest, which has the smoothest flavor and has the least propensity for hangovers. If you look at a bottle of Tequila, it will either say "100% Agave" or it won't. If it doesn't, it's mixed.
What's the most expensive, most laborious tequila you can find?
To make it the most aged, smooth, and pure, you'll have to search for a, 100% Agave, Extrañejo, Cristalino tequila. Of course, with it's extra-aged, 3-times distilled process, it's rightfully going to be the most expensive.
Turns out I found one online here.
THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS
A couple times in this blog I've mentioned the 'governing body' over Tequila. I love learning about bureaucracy, so of course I'm going to write about it.
Mexico has El Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT) or the Tequila Regulatory Council. They are a group of production insiders that set the standards and practices for the industry. Every distillery must follow their exact regulations or the product they sell cannot be labeled as 'tequila'. They decide what can go on the bottle, in the bottle, and who the bottles can be sold to.
It works in tandem with the federal government to set sanitation and label standards, so all distilleries big and small play by the same set of rules.
For example, in 2004 after much debate, the Council allowed tequila to be flavored as long as it wasn't 100% Agave. It's been a big hit for the margarita crowd- people who wouldn't too much care for the 100% agave purity in those kinds of drinks.
They also created the new designation of Extrañejo in 2006 for Tequila that's aged for more than 3 years.
Back in the 1990s, there was such a huge demand for tequila worldwide that the blue agave became scarce and prices shot up significantly. To keep up with the demand, more Blue Agave was planted, and years later there was a surplus, dropping the price and hurting the industry yet again. Blue Agave takes years to reach maturity, so the council also stepped in to regulate production levels to keep prices stable and predictable.
I should say "The Council" is a real group of people, but it also serves as a summit where industry leaders can come to the table with their economic issues and discuss market solutions. That way, tens of thousands of lives and jobs aren't impacted as harshly when there are massive changes in global demand or supply.
See? I told you I love this shit.
THE TOUR
At 2 separate distilleries, we had the opportunity of trying every one of these 5 types in small quantities, but they added up. By the end of the tour we were given a ride to a local Blue Agave farm that had a lot of photoshoot spots. You could walk amongst the agave, take pictures with murals and the big 'Tequila' letters, and there was a viewing platform and large swing that went over a cliff with Blue Agave fields below. Even the bathroom stalls had a great view out over the cliff.
We then stopped at a 'cantarito' bar. Wow. We were not ready for it. It was a ton of Mariachi bands all competing for sound, blasting their music out of speakers in close quarters while people screamed at each other to hear. There was even a stainless steel laundry tub-sink that people could vomit into by the bathrooms. I'm not sure if it was how I was just doing that day, or if I didn't have enough Tequila, but we were not really that into it. We got a drink and then moved on after.
The drink we had, however, is a staple of Tequila-drinking in Jalisco called a "Paloma". It's a mixture of squeezed limes, salt, ice, Tequila, and Squirt. Yes, Squirt, the acidic cousin of Sprite. It's a phenomenal drink that's perfect for hot summer nights when you're ready to cut loose. I found myself ordering them in plenty more locations afterward.
Also, the the cantarito bar was also situated along agave fields that flanked the sides of the Tequila Volcano. The dirt itself was filled with shards of obsidian rocks. The sun set to the right of the volcano, making a beautiful scene.
THE VISIT
After taking a tour and spending more time in Guadalajara, we purposefully made Tequila a destination on our return trip to Vallarta. We got an AirBnB in town and planned on hitting the Tequila Museum and the José Cuervo distillery. We'd already been to a couple small-time distilleries, so it was only fitting we'd go to the biggest and the most well-known last. We'd finally see what the fuss was about.
We paid extra to get the higher tiered tour. We watched a quick movie that went through the known history of tequila and the origins of the distillery and its family. Then, we went through a tour of the facility through a pre-determined pathway that cut through the entire operation from start to finish.
We saw the newly-harvested Blue Agave getting placed in the ovens, the distillation tanks, the aging barrels, and even a window into the laboratory where they practice quality control. The room where the barrels were held was even misted with water periodically from pipes above us to keep the room humid to discourage over-evaporation.
Afterward, we were all given a shot of Blanco and the rest of the regular-tour folks were asked to move on. The special folks, 6 of us, were invited into what looked like a board room where they'd placed several glasses of tequila in front of us- Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo. It also came complete with a glass of water and a plate with lime, coffee beans, a cracker, cinnamon, and a piece of sugar cane.
The tour guide showed us how to pair the smells with each tequila, how to identify tequila by looking at the 'wall' or leftover liquid on the side of a glass when stirred, and he'd given us a chance to relax and get to know each other a bit.
We even went out with a couple people from the tour to dinner afterward.
Jesus, one of the two, was a Mexican-born American dual-citizen who did not have his birth certificate paperwork from Mexico. His parents sent him to the states against his will to give him a better life as a teenager. He gave us a quick story of how much of a bureaucratic and logistical nightmare it was to prove his Mexican citizenship, and what he identifies as, as he is living between two worlds. He will always identify as Mexican, as it is his country of birth and childhood, but he may end up staying in California as far as he knows now.
The Museum gave us even more context as to how engrained Tequila is in Jalisco culture. There were bottles of Tequila from dozens of distilleries, artwork, information on the regulations on tequila, and even a room dedicated to Mariachis, the singing, song-writing bands of Jalisco that pair with Tequila much like Tequila pairs with lime.
SO MUCH TO LEARN
Before I came to Mexico, Tequila was a party drink to me. It was something that people drank when they knew they were going to get wasted. I knew of stereotypes that it makes people horny instead of angry like whiskey.
Tequila was a drink that was synonymous with Mexico, but I didn't know it was exclusive to the country. I didn't know that people enjoy it in careful, meticulous moderation by sipping it slowly out of a small ice-free glass at the end of the day. I didn't know about the range of styles and purities that give the drink so much depth and individual character. I didn't know it was hand-harvested, nor what part of the plant was even used.
I know now I'm going to drink it more often but not as a party drink. Sometime when I'm settled down somewhere, I'd love to have a bottle of 100% Agave tequila (of any style) in my liquor cabinet that I can end my day with. I'll close my eyes and hear the mariachis, just like I did as they echoed off the Tequila volcano that warm Jaliscan night in December 2022.
-JT
1/18/2022