& Tequila Talk Tales

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY LINDA GARSON

Can there be any other spirit that takes so much hard, physical work to produce? That takes such a long time to produce? And that is often quickly tossed back without even being tasted?

A recent visit to the town of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico, to watch and learn how tequila is made (and sample too) has meant a new respect for this underappreciated spirit, and we feel duty-bound to let you know more.

Let’s consider how long it takes to make our favourite spirits: rum is made from sugar cane, whisky is made from wheat, and bourbon from corn – all of which take a year or so to grow and harvest. There are over 200 types of the agave plant, but tequila can only be made from the blue weber agave (also known as the tequila agave) plant which can grow to be very large and can take seven to ten years to reach peak maturity.

And it is harvested by hand; we can vouch for what hard work that is. Trained ‘jimadors’ harvest these huge plants, and they have dangerously sharp points (we can vouch for that too!). They cut off all the spiky leaves and are left with the ‘pina’, which looks like a gigantic pineapple weighing 80-100 lbs, before being taken off to the distillery to be slow roasted in a brick oven for a few days or in an autoclave, and then cooled for a day or two, before being shredded and crushed by either a ‘tahona’, a traditional, two-ton volcanic stone wheel (used by less than ten distilleries nowadays), or with a roller mill, to extract all the sweet juices. Each pina can produce about eight or nine bottles of tequila.

Making drinks from agave goes back a long way, right to the Aztec Indians fermenting the juice to produce ‘pulque’, an alcoholic, milky, and frothy drink, still much in evidence in Mexico today, and maybe not quite so popular with tourists. But it wasn’t until the 1500s, that distillation was introduced with the arrival of the Spanish. They called it ‘Vino de Mezcal’ (wine of mezcal) until the 1800s when it became known as tequila, named after the town.

In 1949, the Mexican government introduced measures to regulate the tequila industry to protect the quality: only 100 percent weber blue agave grown in Jalisco could be used, it had to be between 45 and 50 percent ABV, and it could no longer be sold in barrels – only bottles. But with growing popularity and agave’s long growing cycle, demand was outstripping supply, and 15 years later these measures were revised downwards to allow 30 percent of the fermentable sugar to come from other sources like sugarcane or corn, and downward again in 1968 to allow added flavours and colour, as well as agave from other provinces. With continued increasing popularity, in 1970 it was decided that only 51 percent had to be from agave, and still today we have ‘100 percent agave’ tequila that must be bottled at the distillery, and just ‘tequila’ or ‘mixto’, where 49 percent can be from other sugars, and these can be bottled abroad.

Tequila was the first internationally recognized Denomination of Origin outside Europe, and in 1994 the Consejo

Regulador del Tequila was founded (Tequila Regulatory Council) to keep a watchful eye on how and where tequila is made. Production more than tripled in the following years, and plantings of agave increased enormously too, and by 2018, the demand for 100 percent agave tequilas had overtaken mixtos, causing a drop in the price of agave because of over-supply.

However, look for ‘sin aditivos’ (without additives) on the label, although it is still legally permitted to add one percent additives such as oak extract, caramel colouring, glycerin, and sugar syrups, that don’t have to be listed on the bottle.

There are around 160 distilleries in the five permitted tequila regions of Mexico, with around 2,500 registered tequila brands. Many distilleries produce more than one brand, and it’s estimated there are about 4,000 different expressions of tequila, so on every bottle, you’ll see the Norma Oficial Mexicano – official Mexican standard, ‘NOM’ followed by four digits, which identify the distillery that produced it.

And now we’re on a mission – to make you stop and think about the tequila you drink, don’t shoot! Treat it with the respect you would give to a good Scotch and fine cognac, sip and enjoy.

We’ve talked and thought a lot about this fascinating spirit, so it’s time for us to let you have some of our picks, and on the following two pages we’ve included sixteen tequilas and mezcals that we have personally tried and can stand behind.

Liquorconnect.com shows 563 tequilas and 232 mezcals registered in our province (some may be different size formats of a brand); they may not all be available today, but using the CSPC code, you can check with their importers when they’ll arrive if they’re out of stock, or where there might be a bottle or two on the shelf if they’re hard to find.

As liquor stores in Alberta can set their own prices, all are approximate.

Salud!

So what are the different types of tequila?

Blanco, or Plata Tequila - which spends less than two months in oak barrels

Aged Tequila - Reposado, mellowed by spending at least two months in oak barrels

Extra-aged Tequila - Añejo, ages at least one year in oak barrels

Ultra-aged Tequila - Extra Añejo, must age for at least three years in oak, but unlike many other spirits, older isn’t always better. After about five years the spirit can take on “too much” oak flavour and overwhelm the agave notes.

Mezcal

From an Aztec word meaning “cooked agave”, mezcal achieved it’s DO (denomination of origin) in 1994, and while it can be made from up to 50 different species of agave, it’s only produced in nine states. The piñas are traditionally cooked in stone-lined pits in the earth, giving a smoky quality, and along with tequila, are the only spirits that have a full flavour straight from the still with no additives or aging.

Mezcal: The History, Craft & Cocktails of the World’s Ultimate Artisanal Spirit

By Emma Janzen, Voyageur Press $31

A deeply misunderstood spirit, long maligned, but long overdue for its time in the sun, this book on Mezcal seeks to bring new enthusiasts to the spirit but also clear up misconceptions, and bring new life to the complexities and terroir (yes- terroir) of mezcal.

Mezcal is a cousin of sorts of the better-known spirit tequila, with production about one percent that of tequila, and thought of another way, tequila is a type of mezcal, but not all tequila is mezcal.

Janzen has structured her book into broad sections focusing on the history and context of the spirit, the production – from agave to bottle, tasting and experiencing the spirit, and using it in cocktails and enjoying it.

Quite simply, this is the only guide one would need to get their palate primed and feet wet with this incredible spirit.