THE LOCALS
MASTER DISTILLER
FRANCISCO ALCARAZ Francisco Alcaraz knows tequila and if you’re sipping tequila these days you have him to thank. The master distiller for the world’s first ultra-premium “small-batch” tequila samples several times a day for quality and is very involved in every step of production. But while the quality of Patron Tequila is Francisco’s main responsibility, he is responsible for much more within the global tequila category. Francisco has been with Patron since he created its recipe over twenty years ago. Since then Patron has grown into one of the top selling ultra-premium tequilas in the world and despite its size, Francisco is determined to maintain small distillery ideals. “Even though Patron has grown considerably in many ways we’re still a small distillery,” says Francisco. “To manage our growth, instead of building bigger ovens, bigger fermenters, and bigger pot stills, what I’ve actually done is replicate our original small batch process so that essentially we have 12 distilleries under one roof. It is more expensive and time consuming to do it this way but it’s the only way to ensure a consistent, high-quality product.”
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Photos courtesy Patron Spirits
Master Distiller for Patron Spirits
