Tag: mexico

Casa Noble Distillery Visit

Way back in February I took a quick trip to Mexico to visit the distillery La Cofradia, where they make Casa Noble tequila. They make other brands there too, but I was there as the guest of their flagship brand Casa Noble.

A Beautiful Distillery

La Cofradia is located about a mile outside of the town of Tequila in the Lowlands of Mexico about 45 minutes outside Guadalajara. In Mexico a few distilleries cultivate a garden-like environment but here they take it to another level. There is a central courtyard with trees, a duck pond, a little cafe, and a set of four cottages where visitors like me can stay.

Casa Noble Tequila Production

Casa Noble is a certified organic 100% agave tequila. In order to be organicaly certified you need to prove that the land has been organically farmed and not had chemicals used on it for a certain number of years. Casa Noble avoided that problem by purchasing virgin land in Nayarit and planting fresh agave there. Nayarit is one of the five states where it is legal to grow agave, though nearly all of it comes from the state of Jalisco where the distillery is located.

Thus Casa Noble uses estate-grown agave. This is a growing trend in the tequila industry; producers owning or renting the agave fields so they can control the both the care and harvest of it, but also the price, avoiding the dramatic gluts and shortages of agave in the industry as a result of its long, 6-11 year growing cycle.

(Agave pina (pineapple))

The fields in Nayarit are at an elevation of about 4000 feet, higher than some of the Highlands. Yet the agaves I saw at the distillery were much smaller than Highland agave I've seen. Those are often 200 pounds compared with the 110 pound or so average at Casa Noble (and thus only had to be split in half before baking; some Highland producers split theirs into quarters). They purposefully chose an isolated location for their fields, because they are organic: they wouldn't want airborne agave diseases to spread to their fields.

After harvest, the agave pinas are brought to the distillery where they'll be baked, shredded, fermented, and distilled. Baking converts the complex sugars in the agave into simpler, fermentable sugars.

(Closeup of piece of agave. You can see the fibers. The sugars are stored between these fibers which is why agave is shredded after baking to release them.)

Baking and Shredding

La Cofradia has 5 hornos (ovens), 3 large 40-ton ones and 2 smaller 20-ton ones. The agave is steam baked for 36-38 hours. Then it cools before the next step. They hasten the cooling process by using large fans blowing through the two sides of the oven.

When agave is cooking with steam, the first water than runs off the bottom is called "bitter honey" and it is discarded. The next mass of water is called the "oven honey" and this is collected. We sampled this water- its sweet, watery, and has a vinegar note to it. (David Yan, Marketing Director there, says he's used a refined version of this as a vinegrette on salads.)

(Baked agave.)

After baking the agave is shredded to expose the fermentable sugars that can be washed out and fermented. At La Cofradia they have a unique system: First the baked agave pinas are put through a sort of wood chipper (not a roller mill) with water. This water is collected and they call it the "fat extraction."

Next the chipped agave goes into a two "extractors" that are shaped like horizontal metal tubes. The first part of the extractor is like a corkscrew that compresses the fibers in the agave. Then it passes through to a set of paddles on a central axis that spins the agave fibers outward and washes them with water. Apparently this helps separate the fibers without neccesarily shredding them.

(Diagram of extractor from my notes.)

Fermenting and Distilling

Now, onto fermentation. They ferment the combination of the oven honey, fat extraction, and agave juice from the extractors. Yeast is added that feeds on the fermentable sugars and converts it into alcohol plus CO2. While filling the fermentation vats, they bubble air into the tank, which they say makes the yeast reproduce more. This increases their alcohol conversion by an extra 1-2%.

(Ready for fermentation.)

After fermentation (3-5 days, depending on the time of year), the yeast has died and the juice is called "mosto muerto." Now it's time to concentrate the alcohol through distillation.

At La Cofradia they have large and small stills for the first and second/third distillations. The first, large stillas are called "destroyers" and their job is to get rid of most of the heads and tails.The resultant spirit is 22% alcohol.

(Destroyer stills closer, smaller stills further away.)

The smaller stills are used for both a second and third distillation that refine the spirit. Though the first distillation cuts most of the heads and tails, there are smaller cuts on the second and third distillations. Both bring the alcohol to 55% ABV. (For most of the other brands that are produced at La Cofradia, they distill only twice. As this is the flagship brand they refine it more.)

After distillation (or, in the case of the aged tequilas, after aging) the tequila is filtered through micro-cellulose fibers and diluted to proof. The blanco (only?) is oxygenated before bottling for 8-12 hours.

Aging and Tasting

The barrels for aging Casa Noble come from the Taransaud cooperage in France. They're new French oak with a light #1 char, and nobody else in Mexico uses these barrels.The tequila goes into the casks at 55% ABV from the still (not watered down before barreling).

(New French oak barrels.)

Interestingly, the tequila destined to be anejo (minimum 1 year aging) goes into new casks. The reposado (2 months to 1 year aging) goes into refilled caks. (More often, brands will use newer casks for reposado tequilas and older ones for anejo so that the wood affects the spirit more in a shorter time for the reposado.) They refill these casks for reposado 7-8 times.

Cristal/Blanco: This tastes of nickel and minerals, white and red pepper, and "agave sticks" according to my tasting notes.

Reposado: The reposado is aged for 364 days, the maximum amount before it would be in the anejo category. Reposado is aged in all 228-liter barrels. My tasting notes were: Boo-berry, strawberry cream popsicle, and white flowers.

(Tasting.)

Anejo: Here's where Casa Noble separates itself from the pack yet again. Though all barrels are new French oak from Taransaud, they actually use three different sizes of barrels: 114 liter, 228 liter (about the size of bourbon barrels), and 350 liter barrels. These are blended together to create the anejo.

The anejo is aged for 2 years. (Anejo is aged a minimum of one year. Extra-anejo starts at three years.) You can definitely taste all three of the below flavor profiles in the anejo.

We were given the opportunity to taste tequila aged in each of the three sizes of barrels, each of them for a little under two years.

114 liter: bitter wood, used peanut oil
228 liter: fruit, dusty Boo-Berry, most similar to the reposado
350 liter: floral, strawberry juice, light

Now, besides Casa Noble, I can only think of one other set of brands that ages their spirit in similar casks of different sizes: Jim Beam. Laphroaig and Ardmore both do "quarter cask" programs.

So, Wow.

This is a distillery that uses traditional methods in many ways (stone ovens, gentle agave processing) yet has built their system from the ground up (new agave fields, agave processing methods, distillation, aging). And it's all done in a lovely setting to which I'd love to return someday.

March 22, 2011
Tequila Distillery Visit: Patron
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to the Patron distillery in the town of Atotonilco.

(The distillery is on a huge plot of land. It's a huge distillery. This is the front gate.)

(This is the hacienda, which is the center of the distillery. Nice place.)

(This is agave going in to the rollermill. Patron is 50% rollermill agave and 50% tahona agave.)

(Fermenting tahona agave. Tahona agave ferments and is distilled with the fibers.)

(Outside the distillery they prepare the spent agave to be fertilizer.)

(They use a mix of barrels for Patron.)
- The distillery is actually 12 distilleries operating independently.
- Most of the agave comes from the highlands
- They recycle the first agave juice out of the ovens, don't use it for fermentation
- Ferment in pine wood, not stainless
- Have unusual stills designed by master distiller
- Tahona agave takes 2 hours to crush
- Patron silver is 75% of sales, reposado accounts for 10 percent and anejo accounts for 15
January 14, 2011
Tequila Distillery Visit: Don Julio
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to the Don Julio distillery in the town of Atotonilco.

(Cutting up the pinas before baking.)

(Now when I see pinas, I get thirsty.)

(Fermenting agave.)

(Stainless steel pot stills.)

(We had a cocktail contest after the distillery visit. My team of writers won, of course.)
- Don Julio uses all estate-grown agaves
- Has a widerspacing between agaves than average
- They have 18 furnaces, each of which holds 25 tons
- Fermentation takes 24-30 hours
- Their agave is larger than industry standards, with a higher sugar content
- Inside the stainless steel stills is a copper coil
January 7, 2011
Tequila Distillery Visit: Sauza
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to the Sauza distillery in the town of Tequila.

(First we visited the agave nursery. Sauza is unique in that they propagate their agave not by using baby plants but by… fancier scientific means.)

(This is what an agave looks like if allowed to propagate.)

(You can see close-up that instead of producing seeds, the mother plant produces little baby plants.)

(We had a lecture about plant propagation.)

(I just like this picture from the distillery.)

(This is the diffuser. Super clean at Sauza.)
- The blue color of agave comes from a wax on the plant. This wax covers the pores of the plant to protect it from drying out in the dry season.
- Unlike most tequila distilleries, at Sauza they shred agave and use the diffuser before they cook the agave juice in autoclaves.
- Then they only cook the juice for 3-4 hours.
- They ferment in covered fermentation tanks
- The first distillation is in a column still, second in a stainless steel pot still
- The Tres Generaciones line has a third distillation in a copper pot still
December 31, 2010
Tequila Distillery Visit: Herradura
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to theHerradura distillery in the town of Amatitan.

(Here they split the agave in two before baking.)

(The magic of Herradura is that it ferments naturally- no yeast is added.)

(Sleeping tequila.)
- Agave grows for 7-10 years before harvesting
- Jimadors work for 6 hours a day and harvest about 120 plants
- They use clay/brick ovens, each one holding about 48 tons
- Agave cooks for 26 hours then cools for 24
- They use a rollermill to shred the agave after cooking, then a diffuser to get out the last bits of sugar
- The fermentation takes about 4 days
- The first distillation takes 3 hours, the second 6
- They use stainless steel stills
- They don't move the barrels around, refill them where they are. Use same barrels for about 10 years before replacing
- Between Herradura, El Jimador, and Antiguo, all of which are 100% agave products, they say the only difference is the amount of aging and the percent of alcohol. [That's not quite true, here is a chart that spells out the differences.]
- They age in all new American oak barrels.
- The reposado is aged for 11 months
December 23, 2010
Tequila Distillery Visit: Jose Cuervo
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. )
December 17, 2010
Tequila Distillery Visit: Cazadores and Corzo
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to the Cazadores and Corzo distillery in the town of Arandas.

(Autoclaves cook agave much faster than traditional brick/clay ovens.)

(It's a huge operation here. The liquids travel in pipes through a tunnel beneath a road separating parts of the distillery.)

(Stainless steel stills.)
- In 1922 the recipe for Cazadores reposado was created
- They process 200 tons of agave per day in the distillery
- The autoclaves cook agave for 10 hours at 120 Celsius. Soon they're reducing the cooking time to 8 hours.
- After shredding the agave (after cooking it in autoclaves), they put it in a diffuser; a relatively recent technology that gets the last bits of the sugar out of the agave
- They allow the agave to ferment for about 4 days. The tequila undergoes an alcoholic then a malolactic fermentation
- The first distillation takes about 10 hours, the second takes about 24 hours
- The stills are stainless steel
- They do have a column still that they use "when demand is high"
- Corzo starts from Cazadores reposado. It is then redistilled and re-aged.
- They aged in new white American oak, with some French oak for Corzo
(After the tour, dinner and a dance show in the distillery.)
December 15, 2010
Tequila Distillery Visit: Casa Pedro Domecq
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to Casa Pedro Domecq in the town of Arandas.

(Agave being loaded into ovens. They use the same agave for treatment with rollermill as with tahona.)

This distillery makes Tezon tequila, Olmeca Altos, and a mixto tequila for the Mexican market. I believe Tezon is all tahona tequila. This was distributed by Pernod Ricard in the US, but it appears they've abandoned it and are pursuing sales of Olmeca Altos, which is about half the price, instead. This tequila, also 100% agave, is made by blending agave that has been processed with a roller mill with tahona agave.

(In the rollermill process, after the agave is baked to break up the complex into simpler, fermentable sugars, the agave is shredded using a rollermill.)

(The tahona method. After baking the agave, the chunks of agave are placed in this pit. The large volcanic stone wheel rotates around in it, crushing the agave to expose the sugars before distillation. In olden times, the tahona would have been pulled by a mule.)

(This is the post-tahona agave. Gross. The fibers actually reabsorb the liquids here. All of it is thrown into the fermentation tanks.)

(Fermenting agave juice.)

(These stills are for the tahona agave- the big opening is so they can put in the fibers.)

(In the warehouse, they cover the lids of some barrels with plastic to reduce evaporation.)
- Agave for Olmeca Altos is 7-8 years old before harvest.
- They cut out the cogollo (the interior of the plant where it would sprout to reproduce if it could) in the field.
- They heat the agave in ovens, though they own an autoclave that is sometimes used for the mixto.
- They use larger pot stills for the mixto.
- They ferment and distill the tahona agave with the agave fibers, not the rollermill agave.
- The reposado tequila is aged in ex-bourbon barrels for 6-8 months.
- They replace the barrels after 9-10 years. They tried recharring the barrels but didn't like the results.
- The last agave shortage was in 2000 and 2001. Some people predict another shortage in a year or two.
- Lowland soils are sandier, darker, and more volcanic
- 60-70% of agave for tequila is grown in the highlands
December 3, 2010