To qualify as tequila the resulting spirit requires at least 50 percent agave, but the best tequilas are made with percent agave. Blue Weber, at its most basic, has herbal spice notes and citrus.
This process entails crushing the agave with a stone wheel, and it can add sweet flavors similar to sweet potatoes, Rodriguez says. When aged in barrels, the tequila picks up a variety of flavors. American oak lends notes of vanilla and caramel, French oak imparts dry fruits, and Hungarian oak can leave citrus and fresh wood flavors on the spirit. Made in Mexico for at least years , mezcal is a homespun affair primarily produced by small families and villages. Certification for mezcal is currently in flux.
One helpful thing to remember is that tequila is a type of mezcal, but mezcal is not a type of tequila. At the time of this writing, mezcal can only be produced in eight states. It is considered the place where tequila was first made and where the standards are defined. The other states are only permitted to grow Blue Agave in small and defined regions. The combination of many factors—both environmental and human—that take place within each of the seven steps give each brand of tequila its unique taste.
Name required. E-Mail Address required. HTML is allowed in the comment box above. All rights reserved. Step 1 — Harvesting The planting, tending and harvesting of the agave plant remains a manual effort that relies on centuries-old know how that has been passed down from generation to generation. Step 3 — Extraction Once cooked, the agave heads are transported to a milling area for sugar extraction. Step 4 — Fermentation During the fermentation process the sugars are transformed into alcohol within large wooden vats or stainless steel tanks.
Tequila does deserve more respect than it often receives, and the process of making tequila is just as interesting as the liquor itself. It could make converts of non-believers. Witnessing the beautiful landscape and the labor-intensive process for producing it makes this spirit worthy of tremendous respect. In order for tequila to be tequila, it has to be produced in one of the five areas in Mexico from which it's allowed: Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Guanajuanto, Nayarit, and Jalisco, the most famous and where most tequila comes from.
Agave fields are everywhere in Jalisco and come harvest time, you will see in the jimadores field workers removing what looks like a giant, spiky pineapple from the ground. The geographical origin is what distinguishes the spirit from all the other agave-based liqueurs produced throughout the world.
Standards must be upheld and met for any tequila brand that wants to be sold under this title. Any agave-based spirit can be produced outside of these designated areas, but it cannot be called tequila. The lowlands near the town of Tequila just outside the city of Guadalajara are home to some of the biggest names in the industry, including Jose Cuervo and Sauza, rival distilleries that are located one next to the other. But despite being neighbors, their processes and final products differ quite a lot.
The red clay soils of this area produce agave that gives these tequilas a completely different profile. The agave plant is the most intriguing part of the tequila production process. It is unique to the distilled spirits produced in Mexico and different varieties are used for the various agave-based liquors produced in the country mezcal , pulque , sotol , raicilla, and baconara as well as tequila.
The agave plant is not a cactus, but a succulent in the lily family. Above ground, long spikes grow in rosettes. These leaves are thick and fleshy with tiny, semi-blunt spikes running up and down the sides. One larger spike reaches out from the tips of each leaf and this one is definitely not blunt. Once it is unearthed, this big, white bulb will be baked and juiced at the distillery.
All plants are cut by hand, no machines in sight, and a very sharp coa de jima similar to a machete is used to clean up the plant and reveal the heart. An agave plant can grow to a height of feet and have a similar span. They are mature at 7 to 10 years of age. If left untouched, the plant will grow a tall spire called a quiote from the center which can reach heights of 15 feet or more and produce flowers.
Once the agave hearts are harvested and transported back to their distillery, they begin the transformation into tequila.
The first step in this process is to bake the agave. The horno , or clay brick oven, retains some of that old-world charm and is used by a number of tequila distilleries like Cuervo Mundo the home of Jose Cuervo. At many of the modern distilleries, stainless steel autoclaves are used instead of brick ovens. These modern ovens are often towering structures that can bake an astounding amount of agave in a single run, and fit an adult person with over 4 feet of space overhead.
They become dark brown and look caramelized, like a sweet and mushy honeycomb. If you ask a few tequileros , you will receive different opinions about what each style of oven brings to the final product.
It is a great debate; some people will compare the modern autoclave to a microwave and the brick oven to using a traditional oven in your kitchen. Do tequilas from an autoclave have a diminished flavor. This single step does not consign one to a bad tequila. Instead, it is the culmination of every step in the tequila-making process, from the agave to the barrel, that will affect the final product's quality.
Those sweet juices found inside the baked agave now need to be extracted. Just like every other step in the process, tequila distilleries employ different methods. The majority of the time, mechanical shredders are used to pulverize and separate the agave fibers, allowing the sweet juice, or mosto , to be collected for fermentation.
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