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.)

Comments

22 responses to “Tequila Distillery Visit: Cazadores and Corzo”

  1. Jared HIrsch Avatar
    Jared HIrsch

    If Corzo starts from Cazadores Reposado, then what is Corzo blanco?

  2. Camper English Avatar

    Corzo blanco is redistilled Cazadores reposado. Distilling resets the clock on aging tequila- so it doesn’t count as being aged anymore.

  3. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    Then what is the point of starting with the reposado? Why not just skip that initial aging process?

  4. Camper English Avatar

    If I remember correctly, you can still taste a touch of wood in it and it is a bit softer from the aging. I’m surprised that it remains after (re)distillation.
    It’s not the only product that’s redistilled after aging – Patron Burdeos and I think the Gran Patron Platinum are aged and redistilled. Maestro Dobel is filtered after aging to remove color but still retain barrel notes.

  5. Jared HIrsch Avatar
    Jared HIrsch

    fascinating. Thanks Camper!

  6. Mlasky Avatar
    Mlasky

    So what about Cazadores Blanco? How often do you think they use the Column Still?

  7. Camper English Avatar

    I have no idea how often they use the column still. And between then and now everything could have changed with their production. That’s the way it is in tequila today.

  8. Lacey Avatar
    Lacey

    How did you arrange for the tours at Cazadores and Corzo? Their websites don’t seem to have any “visit us” information.

  9. Camper English Avatar

    Unfortunately they are not open to the public. I went as part of a press trip. As far as I know, no Highland tequila distilleries are open for tours; only ones near Tequila town.

  10. isles11768@yahoo.com Avatar

    Hi Camper- I am surprised that profile remains as well,after re-distillation. This must produce a negative somewhere in the juice,being that you age, then redistill to un-age. Although I like both brands, I can’t believe that CORZO is made in an autoclave, then shredded, put in a diffuser and when necessary a column still is used. REALLY??- maybe just cazadores is made that way or both brands?? This is ALL bad production tools, as far as I’m concerned. I accepted the autoclave/shredder,long ago in corzo and others(although I prefer old time,horno cooked agave/tahona crushed/copper stills) BUT the diffuser and sometimes column stills? My God- That’s horrible- I cant believe they get Corzo to taste as good as it does with those methods. Thank you for this info- very interesting. Long Island Lou https://www.facebook.com/pages/Long-Island-Lou-Tequila/641682619241422

  11. Skidude.VT Avatar
    Skidude.VT

    All great info.
    Corzo is Yummy
    Thanks,
    Skidude.VT

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