Roasted agave heart.
Distillation. October 2011
We were on a cruise to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta from San Diego. As part of the shore excursions we could visit a tequila distillery in the countryside of Jalisco just outside of PV, so Brian and I signed on. We always liked tours of wineries and breweries, why not?
It would be fair to say I knew NOTHING about tequila (and I venture most Americans are similar). A succulent desert plant's heart is cut out and roasted and then mashed, cooked and fermented, and finally distilled. A most unlikely source for alcohol, let alone a distilled spirit, tequila is unique among the classic hard drinks.
The distillation technology to produce mezcal from agave heart juice was first introduced from the coastal regions of what was then Nueva Galicia (present-day Aguascalientes, Colima, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Zacatecas) into the highland valleys of Amatitán, Tequila, Magdalena, and El Arenal in the mid-1700s. The mezcal produced in these regions became distinctive enough as to become known as "tequila" (after the town).
Spain's King Carlos IV granted the Cuervo family the first license to commercially make tequila. Don Cenobio Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and Municipal President of the Village of Tequila from 1884–1885, was the first to export tequila to the United States, and shortened the name from "Tequila Extract" to just "Tequila" for the American markets. Don Cenobio's grandson Don Francisco Javier gained international attention for insisting that "there cannot be tequila where there are no agaves!" His efforts led to the practice that real tequila can come only from the State of Jalisco. The first tequila distillery in the United States was opened in 1936 in Nogales, Arizona by Harry J. Karns, former Arizona state senator and Nogales Mayor. In a move to take ownership of the term "tequila", the Mexican government declared the term its intellectual property in 1974.
(Wikipedia)
The names Cuervo and Sauza still play a role in tequila production and hats off to the Mexicans for trying to apply "appellation d'origine contrôlée" (like Champagne or Bourdeaux wine). Real tequila is just from Jalisco, Mexico - enough said. Tequila is actually hugely underrated outside of Mexico, sadly limited to drunken shots and fancy cocktails.
For people who drink scotch, they are well aware that a good single-malt tastes superior to and is much more expensive than a blend. In short, if one batch of whiskey turns out well, it is mostly bottled up and sold "as is" at a high price. Anything missing the mark is mixed in with others of lesser grades for blended whiskey (which most of us drink because it's affordable). That is something to keep in mind for people who are paying a lot for Johnny Walker Blue which is, in the end, still a blend (but a high end blend). The best scotch whiskey is always a single-malt.
Tequila is the same. If there is a particularly good batch, that is bottled and sold as such. That "single malt" tequila tastes NOTHING like any tequila used to flavor margaritas or served as shots in bars across the US. It can be sipped and savored neat or on the rocks just like a fine scotch. All the other batches that are not up to grade are blended into the brands Norte Americanos recognize in bars (e.g., Jose Cuervo, Patron, etc.). However, in the end, those are just blends and probably better off served in cocktails the same way Johnny Walker Red is better mixed with Coke. The sad thing is that good "single batch" tequilas are mostly only available in Mexico and very discerning liquor stores in the USA.
What a shame that a drink we all are familiar with has a "better" version that almost no one knows about. For people who drink distilled spirits, it is worth tasting a single batch tequila once in life. Life coffee in Italy, it will be a real wake up experience!
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