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
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