By Rod Smith
Photography by Jon Neuschwander of Quad/Photo, Dwight Smith/Dreamstime.com, Carlos Sanchez Pereyra/Dreamstime.com, Omegaphotographic/Dreamstime.com, and Tiger Darson/Dreamstime.com
Imagine a warm night in Guadalajara, the savory scents of carnitas and fresh tortillas wafting through the crowded mercado and a choir of mariachi brass calling across the Mexican plaza. That’s just one of many vivid images that flood my mind while sipping a fine tequila. And I wouldn’t say that about just any old super-premium luxury spirit. In fact, very few spirits, or drinks of any description, have the kind of cultural authenticity that links aromas and flavors to the experience of another land.
Tequila is one of them.
Now, don’t try to impress a spirits snob by asserting that tequila has come of age. That’s old news to aficionados. Yet, it’s fair to say that the discerning public is fairly new to the fact that the Sierra Madre highlands of Jalisco and neighboring states (primarily Tamaulipas and Michoacan) now offer a universe — or at least, many constellations — of new tequila stars and more than a few old ones that have been polished up with a new luster. Some 70 distilleries now produce more than 600 brands. Tequila lovers have never had it so good (nor, for that matter, have fans of tequila’s Oaxacan cousin, mescal — but that’s another story).
Tequila is simply one of the world’s great spirits. Like whiskey, its historical credentials are impeccable. Just as Irish and Scotch whiskeys have their roots in the dim Celtic past, tequila has an Aztec heart. Like cognac, it is recognized as a unique expression of terroir. Where a fine cognac is the distilled essence of chalky soil and ocean, tequila whispers of the red volcanic soil around the dormant cinder cone of the Volcán de Tequila, and fairly sings of the lugubrious subtropical upland climate on the western skirt of the Sierra Madre mountain range.
Tequila is the only non-grape spirit with that kind of terroir-expressive character, created along an arc from soil to bottle that gives it the geographical identity coveted by connoisseurs. That is to say, its character comes from a special plant grown in locations with ideal soil and climate.
But don’t call it cactus juice. Tequila is, indeed, made from a plant that thrives in arid conditions. But that noble plant is actually a member of the lily family, the startling blue-green frozen explosion of a succulent called Agave tequilana weber azul, or blue agave. The agave has a remarkable capacity to concentrate various sugars and acids in its core. When fully ripe at seven to 10 years of age, the sugar-acid balance is similar to that of wine grapes.
At that magic moment, the heart of the plant is trimmed of its leaves and oven-roasted, yielding a pulpy syrup, which is not only sweet, but also possesses incredibly intense perfumes and flavors ranging from citrus and pepper to ginger and honeysuckle. As with grapes, an amazing array of flavors inherent to the fruit are captured in the bottle, and that makes a top-shelf tequila as sipworthy as a single-malt Scotch.
JOURNEY FROM FIELD TO GLASS
As with anything that’s been done for hundreds of years, the process of making tequila is well-known, straightforward, and relatively low-tech. And as with any process that holds the potential for artisanal expression, the way each simple step is performed has a big effect on the outcome.
Here’s a quick sketch of tequila’s journey from the field to that crystal glass on the bar: The agave is harvested by jimadores, skilled workers who employ an array of specialized tools to trim the sharp spikes off the plant and cut out its heart. The piñas, which resemble huge pineapples, are taken to the distillery where they are roasted in either pressure cookers or hornos (traditional adobe ovens) to break down their fibrous mass and release the sugars. The resulting pulp and/or aguamiel (juice or “honey water”) are fermented to produce a kind of agave wine, which is then distilled at least twice to produce a clear, high-proof spirit. Water is added to cut the alcohol to standard spirits level (usually about 40 proof, or 80 percent).
At each step, there are decisions to be made that will impact the final product. The most important is when to harvest the agave, taking into account not just the sugar-acid balance but also the spectrum of flavors from green and peppery on the young side to honeyed tropical fruit on the riper side. Other decisions that can have a significant effect include the method of roasting or baking the piñas, how they are crushed or mashed (or shredded, as Sauza does), whether the pulp is fermented with the juice, and what type of yeast is used for fermentation.
The distillation is an art form unto itself. And knowing how long to rest or age each batch, whether in stainless steel, neutral barrels, or new oak, also requires a degree of art and a lot of experience.
Note that regulations allow the use of different types of agave and also a portion of alcohol from other plant sugars, usually sugarcane. These mixto tequilas can be excellent, yet aficionados tend to prefer tequilas made from 100 percent blue agave, which is usually stated on the label.
Some tequila is bottled immediately as plata or silver tequila, also called blanco. These are sometimes dismissed as being too hot and raw for unaccustomed palates — but don’t be hasty. The best platas are marvels of pure, intense flavor, at once smooth and wonderfully fiery. My personal favorites include Herradura, Patrón, and Tesoro Azteca.
Some is allowed to rest or repose for at least two months in wooden barrels and is bottled as reposado. A top reposado is generally pale yellow and offers the same pure, intense flavors, but rather than exploding in the mouth, they’ll glide over the palate on silk-wrapped rails. Try Tapatio, Sauza Hornitos, or Oro Azul Reposado.
A small amount of the best-quality spirit is aged for a year or more in oak barrels that impart a golden hue and mellow texture; this is called añejo or gold tequila. Añejo often take on a bit of vanilla flavor from the oak, and aging develops new combinations of aromas and flavors in these tequilas; they can be as complex and beguiling as XO Cognac. Examples include El Tesoro, Chinaco, and Partida.
Most brands offer all three types, and some of the artisan distilleries offer several more degrees of aging. A brilliant example of ultra-aged añejo is El Tesoro Paradiso, a revelation of agave’s soul with cognac-like power and complexity.
FROM GOOD TO GREAT
Tequila is a textbook example of how cross-cultural pollination and technology can make a good thing better. The Aztecs were sophisticated enough to embrace pulque, the milky, fermented agave sap that reportedly causes hallucinations and might have been used to communicate with the fierce Aztec gods. Yet it was the art of distillation, invented halfway across the world in Arabia, which elevated pulque to something truly magnificent.
Distillation originally was devised for medical purposes, to turn healing herbs into concentrated tinctures. But the clever Europeans saw another potential, and applied it to the production of spirituous beverages such as gin and uisge beatha (“water of life”), known today as whiskey. Distillation traveled to Mexico with the Spanish conquistadores, and in due course transformed pulque into the rare and magnificent spirit that takes its name from a rather gritty little town in Jalisco state.
Tequila is the largest town in an area that originally was settled by the Tiquila tribe, a subset of the Aztec civilization. Today its central plaza is guarded by armed police because of sporadic violence between rival factions of the region’s profitable marijuana trade. Its cathedral presents an appropriately grim facade, but is quite beautiful within — and likewise, the narrow calles winding away from the plaza lead to the town’s colorful and exuberant inner life.
Follow your nose through those streets and you’ll encounter the sticky-sweet, heady perfume of roasting agave and the sharper scent of freshly distilled tequila. The town and its environs are studded with distilleries. Larger ones like Cuervo’s La Rojeña and Sauza’s La Perseverancia offer formal tours, but even smaller operations like Arette’s El Llano can often be visited by appointment.
One of the most interesting is Herradura’s Hacienda San Jose del Refugio, a modest family owned operation in the little town of Amatitan, just a few miles southeast of Tequila. Its combination of tradition and innovation exemplify the new spirit animating the tequila industry.
For example, the piñas are baked in old-time ovens, but the aguamiel is distilled in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, using a proprietary native yeast strain cultured from the Herradura estate’s agaves in a high-tech lab. The lab also features a miniature, experimental tequila distillery with small adobe hornos and scale-model stills, producing small batches to test new methodologies.
There are more distilleries concentrated around the lovely little towns of Atotonilco el Alto, Arandas, and Tepatitlán de Morelos, in the Los Altos region east of Guadalajara. Sadly, Patrón’s La Vencedora and El Centenario facilities in Atotonilco are not open for tours, but nearby El Viejito is, by appointment. In Arandas, El Tesoro’s famous La Altena can be arranged.
Getting up close and personal with tequila production is well worth the effort. Whether you’re serious enough to spend a few days in Tequila itself, take day trips from Guadalajara, or build a Jalisco side-trip into your next beach-potato sojourn in Acapulco, tasting tequila at the source can be a magical experience.
Rod Smith has received two James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, for magazine and newspaper writing. He notes that, contrary to a popular opinion formed decades ago, top-quality tequila in reasonable quantity won’t give you a hangover.