Alcademics

Tag: tequila

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

    Tequila pipes tequila cazadores_tn
    (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 tequila cazadores (2)_tn
    (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

    Dancers tequila cazadores10_tn
    (After the tour, dinner and a dance show in the distillery.)

  • Hot Buttered Fun

    Hot_buttered_anejo_med_lg Hot Buttered Fun would be a good party band name, right? 

    My latest post on FineCooking.com is up. It's a recipe for the Hot Buttered Anejo, which is a hot buttered tequila that I had one night when the brand Avion was pouring drinks at Elixir. 

    Check it out here. 

  • 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.

    Olmeca altos agave ovens2_tn(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. 

    Tequila olmeca altos agave roller mill_tn(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.)

    Tequila olmeca altos tahona crushing agave4_tn
    (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.)

    Tequila olmeca altos tahona crushing agave2_tn
    (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 tequila olmeca altos_tn
    (Fermenting agave juice.)

    Copper stills for tahona agave tequila olmeca altos (2)_tn
    (These stills are for the tahona agave- the big opening is so they can put in the fibers.)

    Barrels with plastic to prevent evaporation tequila olmeca altos_tn
    (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