Tequila Connoisseur Must Know Questions

Tequila's 21 Questions

1. What is the tequila?
   
   Tequila is a Mexican drink. Spirits with unmistakable flavor, a distilled juice of wild plants, also is like water from a river that burns. Its origin is a plant which marks the Mexican landscape as a fingerprint, the blue agave. It is drinking distilled traditions, is eating stories. Drinking tequila is entering in a world of legends and traditions.
   

2. What does the word tequila mean?
   
   Is the name of the valley in Jalisco where tequila has been produced for centuries. It is also the name of a hill and the name of small town where several factories are located.
   The origin is Nahuatl (tequitl: work or trade; and tlan: place) the words speaks of a workplace and, hang time, or specific job cutting plants. Tequio: the word refers to the task of men in the field.
   

   
   

3. How was the tequila born?
   
   Since the first decades after the Mexican Conquest tequila was born as a mestizo creation: its legacy was the pre-Hispanic American agave plant, which was already used to obtain fermented beverages. Its other legacy, Spanish, was the distillation introduced to this continent. For many years, was known as mezcal wine, or tequila mezcal, and mezcal or mexcal were some of the names of agave.
   
   

4. What is the blue agave?
   
   The Blue Agave tequilana Weber is one of the 136 known species of agave plants grown in Mexico and whose diversification throughout the country probably was due to the migration of ethnic groups that domesticated the agave over the centuries. The Swedish naturalist named Carlo Linneo called it Agave in 1753, utilizing the Greek word that means noble or admirable. The blue variety is used in the manufacturing of tequila and it is distinguished by its intense blue rosette (the form of the leaves of the plant)
    
   It was classified by a botanist named Weber at the beginning of this century, so it bears his name. When the agave matures, its center stands a very high-stem flowers, is known as Quiot. The blue agave grows mainly in the municipalities of Amatitan, Arenal, and Tequila and in the northeastern region of Ameca, as well as in the highlands: Atotonilco el alto, Zapotlanejo, Totolán, Arandas, Jesus Maria, Ayotlan, and Tepatitlán.
   
   

5. What is a jimador?
   
   The leaves of the agave must be cut to get the head or (piña) pineapple. This job is called the “jima”, and the expert who performs this task is the jimador, who uses long-handled cutting tool. Typically the jimador knows the agave very well, and can tell by just looking at it if the agave is ready for jima, if it is past maturity, if it is infested, and so on.
   
   

6. How is the agave grown?
   
   In clay soils, semidried climate, without sudden changes in temperature around 20 degrees Celsius and about 1500 meters above sea level, under cloudy skies between 700 and 100 days a year. At the beginning of the rainy season, the soil is carved to plant the plant. Annually the land is plowed and the plants are pruned. The plant matures between seven and ten years, but the growing cycles vary in different regions and even in the same crops. The cultivation techniques have remained the same for centuries. Traditional instruments for cutting the leaves, as the “coa, barretón, casanga”, and the machete, remain indispensable.
   

7. What are the agave piñas?
   
   By removing the ribs of the agave plant the heart or piña is obtained. Some heads weigh up to 150 kilograms. Once the cones have been peeled, porters carried from the countryside to the vehicle that carries the factory. Once at the factory, the pineapples are stacked in front of the ovens. Other workers cut them in half or quarters and put into ovens for cooking that will transform their starches to sugars.
   
   

8. How is the tequila elaborated?
   
   Once the agave heads have been cooked - either in the oven or in autoclaves (which are like pressure cookers) – these are sent to a mill to grind.
   The juice or honey is extracted and fermented in special containers. When the tequila is not 100% agave, these honeys are mixed with others, mainly sugar cane, to ferment together. During the fermentation the sugars are transformed into ethyl alcohol.
   These ferments then go to the stills, which are heated to high temperatures, then evaporate and condensed again and becoming a liquid that is called tequila. However, this step has still impurities, which requires a second distillation. This gives the highest quality product that is tequila Blanco.
   
   

9. How many types of tequila are there?
   
   You can basically speak of three types of tequila: Blanco, reposado and añejo. White is transparent as water. It is obtained immediately after the second distillation. Many connoisseurs prefer it because its flavor is more pure. The reposado is obtained after resting in white oak barrels for at least two months. Then the coloring tends to be slightly similar to the wood and its flavor is slightly softer than the white. The añejo remains in maturation at least one year in the same type wooden barrels. It is darker than then the rest and the wood flavor is much more pronounced. For those who drink tequila for the first time, añejo perhaps the most recommendable. Each plant produces variants of these three types.
   

10. What does 100% agave?
    
    The purity of tequila is to be made entirely from agave. When tequila does not state on its label that is 100% agave tequila, then it is mixed. This means that a proportion of sugar obtained from the agave was mixed with other sugars during its preparation. For many years in Mexico there was a rule that allowed the tequilas have a minimum of 51% agave and a maximum of 49% from other sugars. For some time, however, the rule requires to be called tequila must be at least 60% agave. Some brands, such as Herradura, have always claimed to produce 100% agave tequilas. By increasing the prestige and fashion of tequila, factories have taken the option of the utmost purity and quality.

    The greater or lesser quality of the tequilas mixed depends on the ingredients used in the mixture. Only certification ensures that a product is truly 100% agave.

11. Does the tequila agave is equal to the maguey pulque?
    
    No, the maguey plant which extracts and ferments pulque is another type of agave; it was widely used in the pre-Hispanic era. There are 17 different forms of this plant. The Mexica goddess of fertility, Mayahuel, allegedly would have become maguey and it would be a symbol of survival. The pulque, a drink ritual in antiquity, is a fermentation of honey extracted directly from the plant and is consumed until today. The tequila is not from that type of honey or pulque, as some people think. Tequila is distilled from sugars from a cooked agave, tequilana Weber, which is thinner and more bluish color.

12. What is the difference between tequila and mezcal?
    
    The mezcal is obtained from various varieties of agave, like limeño, el raicilla, pata de mula, among others. The tequila, however is elaborates only and only from the Blue Agave tequilana Weber and its related varieties. The mezcal is seen as a finished product after distillation. The tequila, however, requires at least two distillations, also must be carefully filtered to remove impurities and soften its flavor.

    
    

13. Do tequilas have a worm in the bottle?
    
    No, The maguey worm inside the bottle is the characteristic of some mezcal, tequila will never have. The manufacturers argue that the mezcal worm helps by preserving the essence of the mescal as it lives in the plant, hence its presence in the packaged liquor to raise its flavor. In agave plantations for mezcal, the worm is sought and cultivated. In plantations for agave tequila is considered a plague that must be exterminated because it weakens the plant.
    
    

14. What is the appellation of origin of tequila?
    
    With the increase in world consumption of tequila emerged in several countries other liquors are sold as tequila, although they are not. The Mexican producers were able to only allow the government to call tequila to the drink produced from the Blue Agave tequilana Weber, and to respect the standards of quality, plus it is produced only in certain regions of the country which include all parts of Jalisco and some of Michoacan, Guanajuato, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. It has been for many years seeking international recognition of this measure, in the same manner that the cognac has, for example. In May 1997, Mexico signed with the European Union agreement to protect the appellation of origin of tequila.
    
    

15. Where and when were the first distilleries established?
    
    There are no documents on the first distilleries; however, in 1538 the governor of New Galicia, a territory covering what is now Jalisco, established a law to control production of what then was called mezcal wine. It is known that in the eighteenth century, Pedro Sanchez de Tagle did grow agave cultivation in the valley of Tequila and formally established a distillery. In 1758, the Cuervo and Montaño families founded a distillery. In 1785 the king of Spain banned the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages; measure that lasted a decade. Once this order was abolished in 1795, Jose Maria Cuervo of Guadalupe founded a distillery called la taverna de Cuervo, which is the origin of the current Casa Cuervo. Tequila Sauza originated in 1873 and Tequila Herradura in 1870.
    
    

16. When it began to export the tequila?
    
    Since the sixteenth century distilleries in the region of Jalisco, Nueva Galicia, exported the drink to major cities and mining areas in what is now Mexico. By land arrived at fairs in other regions and ports, mainly to San Blas, in Jalisco, founded in 1768. Around 1870 tequila came to the United States in a cart.  The railroad accelerated the expansion of tequila trade and the industrial modernizations of major distilleries were linked to exportation. Currently, tequila is one of the main products exported by Mexico.
    
    

17. What are the functions of the Consejo Regulador del Tequila?
    
    This civil association states that in order to called the beverage tequila, the drink should contain a minimum of 38% and a maximum of 55% alcohol by volume. The main functions of the Council are the registration and supervision of all brands that are produced in Mexico and even those that are bottled abroad. The latter will be authorized by the Council as long as they are produced by the tequila producers in the region on Mexico. Another of its responsibilities is to sue the marks that violate the principles and rules of the denomination of origin.
    

18. What is a “caballito”?
    
    It is a shot glass used to drink tequila, it was initially used in the distilleries to test the tequila by the people making it, and then it became a standard way of drinking it, at fiestas, cantinas, bars, dinner, and other places.
    

19. What is Margarita?
    
    It is a cocktail prepared with tequila. It is served in a glass shaker with the edge covered with lemon and salt. The tequila is mixed with lime juice, Cointreau and crushed ice. There are a variety of combinations. This popular drink increased consumption of Tequila in the world, especially in the United States. One of the best known stories was noted that Margaret Samoan, a Texan woman was the first to offer to her guests at her home in Acapulco a margarita. Another account that Carlos "Danny" Herrera, Tijuana, prepared in honor of Marjorie - Margarita - King, an actress who could not drink any other alcoholic beverage other than tequila ... and Cointreau.
    
    

20. What is the best tequila?
    
    Once you have chosen a tequila that you are confident that was developed with quality, the best tequila is always undoubtedly the one that you will enjoys the most. It is important to the flavor and softness as well as discovering subtle differences between the different tequilas. The taste of each person is the key to good tequila. Give yourself the pleasure of trying different tequilas. Once you find the best tequila don’t forget to come back and share your thoughts, and pleas do not be afraid to express your likings to people, tequila is much like wine, varies in taste for some people.
    
    

21. Why am I reading about tequila?
    
    You know the answer to this one…J