One Tequila, two Tequila, three Tequila, floor!

If you're visiting the Guadalajara region you really can't pass off the opportunity to visit one of the many tequila factories located in - surprise! - Tequila Town.

From Guadalajara the drive took us through miles of the spikey bluey green agave, which, despite rumors to the contrary, is not a cactus. This succulent is part of the lily. Thoughts take me to our garden, I wonder if 'cousin it' has made it through our year off ?

Mexican laws state that tequila can be produced only in the state of Jalisco and limited regions within 4 surrounding states only. One being that of Guanajuato. Mexico has also claimed the exclusive international right to the word "tequila", threatening legal actions many times against would be manufacturers in other countries. Pretty much like champagne, and certain fine whiskies, the region reserves the right to call this alcoholic liquid Tequila. Basically if it ain't produced in one of these 4 states it ain't tequila.

Tequila is a municipality in Jalisco a mere bus hop from Guadalajara centre. You could say the fame of this sleepy farming region is all down to the birthplace of the Tequila drink. The region contains a number of farms that house small distilleries. These farms now conduct many tours of the fabrication process as well as tours further out into the fields where the blue Agave plant is actually grown. The blue agave plant being the main ingredient from which Tequila is made. The plants are harvested, normally by hand, by the jimadores, who have generations of knowledge of the plants and the ways in which they need to be harvested. The pinas, Spanish for pineapples, weighing 40 to 70 pounds, are then cut away with a mega sharp flat spade like tool come knife called a coa. They are then steam cooked for hours, shredded around 4 times over and then distilled in large vats.

We got to taste a slice of the cooked agave. Although the sign says it tastes like yam, we found it much sweeter, almost like raw sugar cane, but with a tequila aftertaste.

The distilling process takes 4 days in summer 6 days in the winter. Then once through a final condensing process the loved or loathed liquor is then ready to go. We tried some of the liquid from the first distilled process that was at around 65-85% proof. This was prior to a dilution process with water to reduce its harshness. It was like rocket fuel!

100% agave can be stored for up to eleven months. It's normally stored in a white oak barrels. The La Marquesa distillery uses Kentucky oak. But other white oaks used are British and French. By using such
barrels it keeps the tequlia's clear appereance at 38% volume. The whole process is pretty similar to that of the process of wine.

Tequila village is small and non imposing with cute cobbled streets, where all things tequila are on offer in some way or another. We took a smaller tour of the Sauza Family Museum, unfortunately "no cameras" for this one. Nahhhhh. This small family run museum was essentially a collection of memorabilia, including paintings, old photos and ancient tools, all in the original Sauza family home. Of course there is the standard gift shop where you can purchase Los Abuelos Tequila and other items. The Sauzas sold their operation in 1988 to the Americans no less. Although Guillermo Erickson Sauza, a fifth-generation family member, recently began producing his own brand, Los Abuelos, using traditional techniques.

On the other side of the square is the Jose Cuervo distillery which has created a tourist experience they call Mundo Cuervo (Cuervo World). This is the home to the largest bottle of tequila in the world. 33 litres in total. It took 6 glass blowers to make the bottle. Well we did say all things in tequila are related in some way or another to the one thing.

And just when we thought that the instigation of booze was done for the day, we reach our lunch stop. A small restaurant perched high into the hills. Ice cold, chilli salted rimmed Margaritas on arrival. Which were to die for! We shared a table with Craig, a Canadian down in Mexico carrying out mechanical engineering audits. We hit common ground given my background but he was polite in his answers when I quizzed him on how the audits were going, well he would do, he's a Canadian. But it was pretty clear through all Craig's politeness the common theme was "there's a long way to go" in maintaining constant standards in these parts.
His expense account kept us in refreshments for a few hours, which was very kind of him and his unexpecting generous company. So as the 3 of us sat enjoyed lunch, the restaurant owner pointed out turkey vultures
circling high over the hot Mexican scrub gaining a free ride on afternoon thermals. The day seemed pretty done. But it wasn't.

Our final stop before home was for eggnog. Or known to some as Advocaat. We had no clue to whether this has a link to mec-e-co but what is for sure is its a drink that stirs up memories for most people. The Warninks Advocaat era. A drink you either love or hate. Most seemed to be getting it down ok! The bus was certainly buzzing on the route back to Guadalajara HQ.