The notes you can smell over the fermentation vats (minus any vinegar aromas), are the same notes you should recognise later, after distillation. TEQUILA is uniquely distilled from the Blue Weber Agave plant (or blue agave) in the Asparagaceae . Tequila started as an agave-based alcoholic drink that was made by the Aztecs and used in a variety of important ceremonies. Pioneering Pumpkin Ale Producer Buffalo Bills Permanently Closes, Carmelo Anthony Announces the Release of VII(N)-The Seventh Estate, His Very Own Wine Label. Regardless of whether the process takes longer, to obtain the best and most concentrated flavors, Tequila Orendain agave pineapples are cooked exclusively in masonry ovens. This process can take from days to weeks depending on the yeast, the sugar content, and the environmental conditions. Tequila is made from Weber blue agave, which is a spiky succulent that resembles aloe vera. This limits tequila production to municipalities including Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Nayarit, and the state of Jalisco. They used a process similar to modern producers and would extract and ferment the agaves sap. This is the pia (the term for pineapple in Spanish), or the heart of the plant from which the tequila is made, and it appears after the blue-grey spiky leaves are shed. In this work, the behaviour of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast (isolated from the juices of the Agave tequilana Weber blue variety) during the agave juice fermentation is compared at different sugar concentrations to determine if it is feasible for the industry to run . In order for tequila to be tequila, it has to be produced in one of the five areas in Mexico from which it's allowed: Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Guanajuanto, Nayarit, and Jalisco, the most famous and where most tequila comes from. Sourcing the Agave. Stay away from Diffuser made Tequila. Up in Los Altos, or the highlands of Jalisco around the towns of Arandas and Jess Mara, you will find many of the lesser-known and what many consider more boutique brands of tequila. Specific yeast may be added to accelerate and control the fermentation. great article. They also use a the pot still first, to hopefully add some complexity before going to the column still, which doesn't add any. Tequila aejo is ideal for sipping or as a replacement for brown spirits, like whiskey, that are usually used in cocktails. Tastings is an off-premise program execution tool to drive brand awareness and conversions and capture valuable consumer data. Here's what Tequila drinkers should know about the difference between the Highlands and Lowlands of Jalisco, Mexico. You can do your own research on the brands youre interested in by using the new advanced tequila search tool available on our website, which uncovers the processes behind each bottle of tequila. I say we owe the yeast a big 'Thank You'. They feel that their gentle maceration with a tahona, let's them end up well below industry standards at this stage, so they are able to retain more complex and natural flavors. Once tequila is obtained, the remaining material known as 'vinaza', is discarded. Once the pia has been baked properly, it is time to shred it and extract the juice, called mosoto, from the bulb. Distillation normally occurs in the 'Alambique', also known as 'pot stills' (See Above), which consists of three parts- the 'cucurbit' (the stack), the 'still pot' (containing the liquid to be distilled, which is heated by a flame) and the 'head' or 'cap', which fits over the mouth of the cucurbit, (connected by the anbik section) to receive the vapors, and is attached to a downward-sloping 'tube' leading to the 'receiver' container. Tomorrow is National Tequila Day, which is pretty much every day in our house. Today, there are over 22,000 formally registered agave farmers in the primary tequila-producing region of Mexico. After the agaves are cooked in brick ovens, they are then sent through a roller mill, and then the remaining fibers are sent to the diffuser to get every last bit of sugar from them. Among those is the Olmeca Distillery where Tequila Tezon is produced, Tequila Tapatio, the producers of El Tesoro de Don Felipe, as well as the distillery producing Patron Tequila. The tahona wheel is a tradition that few tequila producers continue to use. Witnessing the beautiful landscape and the labor-intensive process for producing it makes this spirit worthy of tremendousrespect. These chemicals or accelerators are not a good thing, as it adds those sub-products and unfavorable flavors to the profile. The sugary mosto is added to fermentation tanks with water and yeast. A screw mill doesnt break as many fibers as a roller mill (see below), so it can be used in conjunction with the tahona and speed up the process. A neat stack of barrels house the tequilas of Corazon as they age to become either reposado or anejo tequilas. During the process, the syrup is naturally fermented by its own micro-organisms. This process takes a long time, and is less common, but results in lower levels of methanol. When acid is used during the conversion process, it can take as little as 4 hours to complete. You may have heard of the main three types, reposado, blanco, and aejo, but there are two other lesser-known types that we will also discuss. In most cases a shredder/roller procedure is used, or sometimes a tahona is used to crush or extract. Each method produces a distinct tequila with its own flavor characteristics the roller mill produces tequila with fruity citrus notes, and from the tahona we get . Required fields are marked *. It is distributed in the United States by Diageo, under licensing . Distillation is done slowly at a low temperature so as to allow an amount of heads and tails to remain in the distillate, to keep some of these flavors, as it is in these heads and tails that much of the flavor resides. Agave fields are everywhere in Jalisco and come harvest time, you will see in the jimadores (field workers) removing what looks like a giant, spiky pineapple from the ground. This produces a sweet rich liquid that is then aged in American White Oak barrels from 45 days to 49 months, depending on the type of tequila. Once the agave is cooked it goes through mills to extract the juices from their fibers to obtain the agave juice for fermentation. This owner/distiller explained to me that "you have to remember, unique to tequila and unlike other spirits, the heads at beginning of the distillation brings the superior alcohols, and the methanol is coming at the end with the tails. Unlike whisky where the majority of time is spent in the ageing process, producing tequila requires a vast amount of time invested in cultivation. Official Mexican Standard for Tequila NOM-006-SCFI-2005. A well known master distiller I spoke with said, "you'll have the risk that the first sugar you converted into alcohol, will start changing to a vinegar in the natural process before you finish to convert the last sugar." The juice is then transferred to the fermentation tanks. Process Matters in Tequila Production. Every tequila distillery relies on a specific set of stills. All that is needed here is yeast, the juices of the cooked agave (called must or wort) and water. The three main types are blanco, reposado, aejo and there are two subcategories known as joven and extra aejo.What is tequila made of? Noise and especially music (some say beethoven works best) make the yeast react, and some producers play music in the fermentation area, as it seems music has a positive effect during this process. After the first round, distillers are left with a cloudy liquid known as ordinario. Each of our 21 fermentation tanks have capacity of 30,000 liters or approximately 7926 gallons. In 1975, Spains King Carlos IV issued the first commercial license to produce tequila to the Cuervo family. After the quality of the agave and water source, hydrolysis may be the most important step in the production of tequila. Since the fibers arent broken, they are often added to the fermentation tank so that the yeast can have access to the bits of sugar that are still clinging to them. For instance, the bottles ofTequila Tezonhave two metal plates engraved with symbols for the elements that are essential to tequila: Agave, Fire, Tahona, and Spirit. In either oven, when the baking process is complete after 2 or 3 days of steam cooking, the agave pias are reduced to a fraction of their original size. It is the same process used to make other alcoholic beverages, including liquors, and it is a vital step. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. If left untouched, the plant will grow a tall spire called aquiotefrom the center which can reach heights of 15 feet or more and produce flowers. We set out early in the morning on May 16, 2020. For years weve been saying process matters, and that each choice made during the production process will find its way into the finished product. These stills were made by a local artisan on the premises of the distillery. When acid is used during the conversion process, it can take as little as 4 hours to complete. At Patrn it takes about three hours to crush seven tons of agave with the tahona, and one hour to crush 14 tons of agave on the roller mill. Freelance writer and cocktail book author Colleen Graham is a seasoned mixologist who loves sharing her knowledge of spirits and passion for preparing drinks. Autoclave (post diffuser) (70.82): Heres where it gets interesting. . This part normally lasts 24-48 hours. Diffuser/Roller Mill (73.19): A diffuser used in conjunction with a roller mill happens when the diffuser is used after cooking with heat. The single-cell organism, which multiplies vigorously in the presence of oxygen, is essential to the fermentation process that precedes distillation. Opening the door of an autoclave at the Productos Regionales de Atotonilco distillery (NOM 1526). I know Camarena does this with his El Tesoro line. Yeasts thrive in warmer temperatures and so fermentation is carried out more quickly in the summertime. Who Owns DeLeon . Typically, the lower the level of methanol in a tequila, the better. When all the available oxygen is used up, yeast will convert sugar into . If your experience with tequila is limited to the classic margarita, you are missing out on a complex spirit that comes in a wide range of styles and flavors. Stainless steel provides an elegant, clean finish. The goal is to convert the raw agave pia's carbohydrates and starches into fermentable sugars, much in the same way that grains are turned into a mash, which then ferments to become whiskey. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Sometimes a brand uses a combination of stainless or copper for the first distillation, followed by a column still for the remainder. For a distillate to be termed a tequila at least 51% of the fermentable sugars in the mosto must originate from agave. How the sugars are extracted from the fibers is also an important factor when it comes to production of tequila. Each pia can weigh anywhere from 50-150 pounds and is loaded into the oven when fresh. About 15% of water is added in but not much more, or the yeasts won't do their thing. Tequila is an agave-based spirit that is derived from agave and produced in Mexico. Maturation, if needed, is carried out in white oak barrels to . The production of tequila is divided into seven steps: harvesting, cooking, fermentation, distillation, aging and bottling. Usually natural spring water is added to increase the flow of the agave juices, known as honey water or aguamiel. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. For those who enjoy a margarita, a blanco tequila is usually the way to go. Great article. Using natural and naturally made yeast is always better than using synthetic yeasts, as synthetic yeasts create sub-products. I want to teach others what I know about ALL Agave spirits, keeping it simple and fun! Essentially, there are five different types of tequila. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Tequila, as mentioned, is double distilled, but some distillers do triple distillation. Esters - such as ethyl hexanoate; Alcohols - like such as 2-phenyl ethanol and isoamyl alcohol This single step does not consign one to a bad tequila. help improve bone health and density. These modern ovens are often towering structures that can bake an astounding amount of agave in a single run, and fit an adult person with over 4 feet of space overhead. Distilling the sotol plant into a spirit also resembles the process of making both Tequila and Mezcal. You may also know this type of tequila as silver. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Above ground, long spikes grow in rosettes. Along with this, we utilize native yeasts from the region that occur naturally in the air. (1995) used microbiological methods to identify 13 different yeast species of the micro-organisms involved in the fermentation of tequila (spirit obtained from Agave tequilana weber). It's enjoyed throughout the world, with a unique taste, tight production regulations, and a fragrant flair that give tequila a special appeal. In lower levels of methanol, including liquors, and the state of Jalisco fermentation is out., hydrolysis may be the most important step in the mosto must originate from agave and produced in Mexico they! The fibers is also an important factor when it comes to tequila fermentation process of tequila agave... Lowlands of Jalisco age to become either tequila fermentation process or anejo tequilas, under.! The flow of the distillery procedure is used during the conversion process, it can take as as! 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