In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to the Jose Cuervo distillery in the town of Tequila.
(First we visited an agave field.)
(The jimador harvested the agave plant to get the pina, or pineapple, center.)
(I planted my own agave from the cuttings of a mother plant. I'll need to go back there in 7 or so years and drink that sucker.)
(After harvesting, they load the agave pinas into the ovens. I didn't notice at the time, but it appears they put the whole agaves into the ovens without chopping them into smaller pieces.)
(Copper pot stills.)
(We sampled some Reserva de la Famila out of the barrel.)
- April and May are the planting months for agave
- Agave is harvested year-round, though they usually avoid the rainiest month
- Cuervo irrigates their agave
- They prune the leaves of their agave plants for three reasons: Because they're sharp, to avoid insects laying eggs in them, and to help the heart grow faster
- For Reserva de la Familia, they cut out the cogollo, not for the mixto
- Cuervo owns 4 distilleries
- The distillery had 110,000 visitors last year
- They use only oven, no autoclaves
- The product of the first distillation, called ordinario, is cloudy
- Heads and tails are called vinasas. They are mixed with the agave fibers and made into fertilizer. This happens here and at most distilleries we visited.
- Reserva de la Familia agave is grown in special fields. It is aged in a combination of French and American oak barrels.
(I think it's a raven and not a crow, but hey look, I took a cool picture!)
(We had a horse and lasso show before dinner. )