| Tequila History |
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| Enjoying Tequila & Tequila Recipes |
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| Tequila Myths |
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TEQUILA IS AMERICA’S FIRST INDIGENOUS DISTILLED SPIRIT
We acknowledge Wikipedia as historical source for much of the following text:
Tequila (Spanish pronunciation: [te'kila]) is an agave based spirit primarily in the state of Jalisco. The volcanic soil in the region is particularly well suited to the growing of the blue agave and more than 300 million of the plants are harvested there each year. Mexican law states that tequila can be produced only in the state of Jalisco and limited regions in the states of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas.
Tequila is most often distilled at a 38–40% alcohol content (76–80 proof), but there are also several varieties of tequila produced with 43–50% alcohol content (86–100 proof).
Tequila was first produced in the 16th century near the location of the city of Tequila, which was not officially established until 1656. The Aztecs had previously made a fermented beverage from the agave plant, which they called octli (later, and more popularly called pulque), long before the Spanish arrived in 1521. When the Spanish conquistadores ran out of their own brandy, they began to distill this agave drink to produce North America's first indigenous distilled spirit.
Some 80 years later, around 1600, Don Pedro Sanchez, the Marquis of Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the first factory in the territory of modern-day Jalisco. By 1608, the colonial governor of Nueva Galicia had begun to tax his tequila products.
The tequila that is popular today was first mass-produced in the early 1800s in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Don Cenobia Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and Municipal President of the Village of Tequila from 1884-1885, was the first to export tequila to the United States. Don Cenobio's grandson Francisco Javier gained international attention for insisting that "there cannot be tequila where there are no agaves!" His efforts led to the practice that real tequila can only come from the State of Jalisco.
Since 2002, sales of high priced tequilas, called "ultra-premium" and "super-premium" by marketeers, have increased 28 percent. That is an average growth rate of 8.6 percent per year, as reported by the Distilled Spirits Council of The United States. Sales exceeded expectations by reaching well over 10 million cases as shown in the 2007 report by IWSR based on Adams Liquor Handbook. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, increasing worldwide popularity of tequila drove corporate interest in the drink. Notable developments as a result included:
- The purchase of Herradura by Brown-Forman for $776 million in September 2006.
- A new NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana) for tequila (NOM-006-SCFI-2005) was issued in 2006, and among other changes, introduced a category of tequila called "extra añejo" or "ultra-aged" which must be aged a minimum of 3 years.
- The purchase of the Sauza and El Tesoro brands by massive holding company Future Brands.
Although some tequilas have remained as family owned brands, most well-known tequila brands are owned by large multinational corporations. However, there are over 100 distilleries making over six hundred brands of tequila in Mexico and over 2,000 brand names have been registered. Due to this, each bottle of tequila contains a serial number depicting which distillery the tequila was brewed and bottled in. Because there are only so many distilleries, multiple brands of tequila come from the same place.
The Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico originally did not permit flavored tequila to carry the tequila name. In 2004, the Council decided to allow flavored tequila to be called tequila, with the exception of pure agave tequila, which still could not be flavored.
A one-liter bottle of limited-edition premium tequila was sold for $225,000 in July 2006 in Tequila, Jalisco, by the company Tequila Ley 925. The bottle which contains the tequila is a two-kilo display of platinum and gold. The manufacturer has received the Certificate from Guinnes World Records for the most expensive bottle of spirit ever sold.
In 2008, Mexican scientists discovered a method to transform 80-proof (40% alcohol) tequila into diamonds. This process involves heating the tequila to over 800 degrees C (1,400 degrees F) to vaporize the tequila. The tequila particles are cooled, and settle upon steel or silicon trays in an even, pure layer. The results are hoped to have numerous commercial and industrial applications, but are far too small (100–400 nm diameter) for use in jewelry.
In 2003, Mexico issued a proposal that would require all Mexican-made tequila be bottled in Mexico before being exported to other countries. The Mexican government said that bottling tequila in Mexico would guarantee its quality. Liquor companies in the United States said that Mexico just wanted to create bottling jobs in their own country. Liquor companies in the United States also claimed this rule would violate international trade agreements and was in discord with usual exporting practices worldwide. The proposal might have resulted in the loss of jobs at plants in California, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kentucky, because Mexican tequila exported in bulk to the United States is bottled in those plants. On January 17, 2006, the United States and Mexico signed an agreement allowing the continued bulk import of tequila into the United States. The agreement also created a "tequila bottlers registry" to identify approved bottlers of tequila and created an agency to monitor the registry.
All 100% agave tequilas must have a NOM identifier on the bottle. The important laws since 1990 were NOM-006-SCFI-1993 and the later update NOM-006-SCFI-1994 and the most recent revision in late 2005, NOM-006-SCFI-2005.
The number after NOM is the distillery number, assigned by the government. NOM does not indicate the location of the distillery, merely the parent company or - in the case where a company leases space in a plant - the physical plant where the tequila was manufactured.
TMA ("tristeza y muerte de agave") is a blight that has reduced the production of the agave grown to produce tequila. This has resulted in lower production and higher prices throughout the early 2000s, and due to the long maturation of the plant, will likely continue to affect prices for years to come.
Harvesting the agave plant remains a manual effort, unchanged by modern farming technologies, and stretching back hundreds of years. The agave is planted, tended, and harvested by hand. The men who harvest it, the "jimadors", possess generations of knowledge about the plants and the ways in which they need to be harvested. The jimadors must be able to work swiftly in the tight rows, pull out the pups without damaging the mother plant, clear the piñas (Spanish for pineapples), and decide when each plant is ready to be harvested . The piña is called that because it looks exactly like an overgrown pineapple.
Harvesting too soon and there are not enough sugars, too late and the plant will have used its sugars to grow a quiote (20-40 foot high stem), with seeds on the top that are then scattered by the wind. The piñas, weighing 40 to 70 pounds, are cut away with a special knife called a coa. They are then shredded, their juices pressed out and put into fermentation tanks and vats. Some tequila companies still use the traditional method (artisanaln tequila) in which the piñas are crushed with a stone wheel. The final process is to add a yeast to the vats to convert the sugars into alcohol. Each company keeps its own yeast a closely guarded secret.
There is a clear difference in taste between tequila that is made from lowland and highland agave plants. Agave plants that are grown in the highlands often have more fruit flavor due to the growing process. The plants are grown on west-facing slopes, allowing them to receive the most amount of sunlight throughout the day. These plants are taller, wider, and juicier. Agave grown in the lowlands have more earth tastes, and are typically on the smaller side.
There are two basic categories of tequila: mixtos and 100% Agave. Mixtos use up to 49% of other sugars in the fermentation process, with Agave taking up the remainder. Mixtos use both glucose and fructose sugars.
With 100% agave tequila, blanco or plata is harsher with the bold flavors of the distilled agave up front, while reposado and añejo are smoother, subtler, and more complex. As with other spirits that are aged in casks, tequila takes on the flavors of the wood, while the harshness of the alcohol mellows. The major flavor distinction with 100% agave tequila is the base ingredient, which is more vegetal than grain spirits (and often more complex).
Tequila is usually bottled in one of five categories
- Blanco ("white") or plata ("silver") – white spirit, un-aged and bottled or stored immediately after distillation, or aged less than two months in oak barrels.
- joven ("young") or oro ("gold") – un-aged "blanco" tequila, blended with rested or aged tequilas, and often with caramel coloring, sugar-based syrup, glycerin, and/or oak extract added so as to resemble aged tequila.
- Reposado ("rested") – aged a minimum of two months, but less than a year in oak barrels.
- Añejo ("aged" or "vintage") – aged a minimum of one year, but less than 3 years in oak barrels.
- Extra Añejo ("extra aged" or "ultra aged") – aged a minimum of three years in oak barrels. This category was established in March 2006.
Reposado may be rested in barrels or casks as large as 20,000 litres, allowing for richer and more complex flavors. The preferred oak comes from US, France or Canada, and while they are usually white oak, some companies choose to char the wood for a smokey flavor, or use barrels that were previously used to hold a different kind of alcohol (e.g. whiskey, scotch, or wine in the case of Asombroso). Some reposados can also be aged in new wood barrels to achieve the same wood flavor and smoothness, but in less time.
Añejos are often rested in barrels that have been previously used to rest reposados. The barrels cannot be more than 600 liters, although most are stored in barrels of about 200 liters. Many of the barrels used are from whiskey or bourbon distilleries in America, France, or Canada (the most popular being Jack Daniels), resulting in the dark color and more complex flavors of the añejo tequila. Since most people agree that after 4 years of aging the tequila is at its best, the añejo can be removed from the wood barrels and placed in stainless steel tanks to reduce the amount of evaporation that can occur in the barrels.
There are many brands of tequila; the Consejo Regulador del Tequila reports 901 registered brands from 128 producers for the year 2008. And now, entering the new one which is getting among the best TEQUILA CASTA NEGRA.
In Mexico, tequila is imbibed without salt and lemon. It is popular in some regions to drink fine tequila with a side of sangrita —a sweet, sour and spicy drink typically made from orange juice, grenadine (or tomato juice) and hot chilies. Equal-sized shots of tequila and sangrita are sipped alternately, without salt or lime.
Outside Mexico, a single shot of tequila is often served with salt and a slice of lemon. This is called "tequila cruda" and is sometimes referred to as "training wheels," "lick-sip-suck," or "lick-shoot-suck" (referring to the way in which the combination of ingredients is imbibed). Drinking tequila in this way is often erroneously called a Tequila Slammer, but this is a mixed tequila and carbonated drink.
The tequila shot with salt on one hand and a bite of lime is Hollywood stuff and tequila aficionados consider this method strictly for tourists. However, some people do put some lime juice in the tequila or bite the lime before sipping it. In many restaurants throughout Mexico they bring you a small tray with your favorite brand, a caballito with sangrita, salt and half a lime.
Though the traditional Mexican shot is straight tequila, lime is the fruit of choice when a chaser must be used. It is believed that the salt lessens the "burn" of the tequila and the sour fruit balances and enhances the flavor. In Germany and some other countries, tequila oro (gold) is often consumed with cinnamon before and slices of orange after, while tequila blanco (silver) is consumed with salt and lime. Finally, as with other popular liquors, there exist a number of shot-related drinking games and "stunt" drinks such as body shots.
Tequila is a fine and complex liquor, and as such, to be sipped slowly. It should be served at room temperature, although some like it ice cold keeping a bottle in the freezer (alcohol does not freeze). Traditionally most people serve it in a "caballito", a 2 ounce glass made exclusively for this purpose.
The famous Riedel Glass Company from Austria has introduced a 6 3/4 oz Tequila glass. This company was the first to recognize the effect of the shape of a glass on perception and drinking pleasure of wines and alcoholic beverages.
Riedel reports that “This elegant slender glass has a tall stem, meant to lift fine tequila to the level it deserves, to accord it the appreciation and respect of which it is worthy.”
However, the traditional “caballito” still is the favorite glass to enjoy Blanco and Reposado. Añejo is preferably served in a snifter so that its aroma is fully appreciated.
Blanco and Reposado may be accompanied by "sangrita" made of tomato and orange juice with salt and chile.
It is a sound practice to order the waiter to bring the tequila bottle to your table and have it poured in front of you. Some places do not keep a fair stock of brands, but they might say they do and serve you something different than what you ordered.
Choose the tequila that you like and enjoy it. There is really not a right way to drink, sip, or gulp tequila. Life is, after all, a matter of taste.
It should be noted that drinking higher-quality, 100% agave tequila with salt and lime is likely to remove much of the flavor.
A margarita glass
When served neat (without any additional ingredients), tequila is most often served in a narrow shot glass called a caballito ("Little Horse" in Spanish), but can often be found in anything from a snifter to a tubler.
The Consejo Regulador del Tequila (Tequila Regulatory Council) approved an "official tequila glass" in 2002 called the Ouverture Tequila glass, made by Riedel.
The margarita glass, rimmed with salt, sugar, or plain, is a staple for the entire tequila/fruit mixed drink genre, including the margarita itself.
There are an endless variety of drinks that involve tequila, relying only on the imagination of the preparer. As with most of the hard liquors, there is a martini variant that involves tequila as well as a large number of tequila drinks made by adding a fruit juice such as the Tequila Sunrise and Matador. Sodas and other carbonated drinks are a common mixer, as in the Tequila Slammer.
It is a common misconception that tequila is fermented from cactus. Agaves and cacti are unrelated, though both are succulunts. It is a common misconception that some tequilas contain a 'worm' in the bottle. Only certain mezcals, usually from the state of Oaxaca, are ever sold con gusano, and that only began as a marketing gimmick in the 1940s. The worm is actually the larval form of the moth that lives on the agave plant. Finding one in the plant during processing indicates an infestation and, correspondingly, a lower quality product. (Note: for more information on how tequila is made, see mezcal.) However this misconception continues, and even with all the effort and marketing to represent tequila as a premium-similar to the way Cognac is viewed in relation to brandy-there are some opportunist producers for the shooters-and-fun market who blur these boundaries.
As we mentioned, in the section on drinking and enjoying tequila: the shot, salt and lime method is considered a tourist phenomenon and not practiced by aficionados of fine tequila. Tequila should be sipped slowly, like fine wines and cognac.
The Margarita was invented in October of 1941. Not in Jalisco, mother state to tequila, nor in Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville. It was invented by a Baja California mixologist by the name of Don Carlos Orozco. Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada is where Don Carlos tended bar. The famous watering hole opened it’s doors in 1892 and today is still a favorite among locals and foreign tourists alike.
Don Carlos was famous for experimenting with different combinations of liquor and mixes. He had just finished making a new concoction when Margarita Henkel arrived at the bar. She was the daughter of the German Ambassador to Mexico. Hussongs was founded by Johan Hussong a German immigrant to Mexico. Don Carlos offered Margarita the new drink combination and because she was the first to taste and approve of the drink, he named it in her honor.
Tequila is a common topic of popular culture, ranging from films that simply use the name, such as Tequila Sunrise (1988) to songs about the drink. According to Tom Robbin's book “Still Life” tequila is the preferred drink of outlaws
Tequila even enters the popular news media. For example, Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic outburst when arrested for drunk driving was attributed to tequila consumption. Sammy Hagar, rock star (singer of the bar anthem "Mas Tequila") and owner of Cabo Wabo Tequila described tequila's stigma as, "the stuff that you go, 'I will never drink that as long as I live,' and you have gotten sick in college on rot-gut tequila." This image of tequila as the instigator of particularly egregious intoxication and hangovers is pervasive in references to the drink in popular culture.
In music, singer-songwriter Alanis Morrisette wrote an ode to tequila entitled "On The Tequila" for the “Flavors of Entanglement”sessions, and says tequila has helped her balance things out in her life. The English rock band Terrorvision had a UK No. 2 hit in 1999 with their song “Tequila”.
Tequila plays a role in the climactic scene of "Funhouse", the season two finale of the HBO TV seriest THE SOPRANOS. In this episode, the character Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero asks several members of the crew if there is any good tequila available, knowing that he is about to be killed and wanting a final drink with his longtime friends.
In the United States, National Tequila Day is July 24.
In the Mexican telenovela, Destilando Amor, the production of Tequila, and how it is made, plays a role of the storyline. Part of the show takes place on agave fields.
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