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A Guide to Tequila by Ian Chadwick
For additional information about tequila go to
www.ianchadwick.com
In Tequila: Panegyric and
Emblem, the Mexican poet Alvaro Mutis wrote:
Tequila has no
history; there are no anecdotes confirming its
birth. This is how it’s been since the beginning of
time, for tequila is a gift from the gods and they
don’t tend to offer fables when bestowing favors.
That is the job of mortals, the children of panic
and tradition.
Translated by Mark Schafer
From Artes de México magazine, issue 27
Despite its huge sales in the United States, tequila
is still the most misunderstood and maligned liquor.
Most people only know tequila through drunken
encounters with low-quality tequila in their youth.
To that end, I would like to impart some basic
knowledge of Mexico’s great spirit for those of you
craving more.
The Source
Tequila is produced
mostly in the western Mexican state of Jalisco,
around the town of Tequila, about 34 miles west of
the capital, Guadalajara. Many visitors know the
state for its Pacific Coast resort town, Puerto
Vallarta. Jalisco also has mining, manufacturing,
arts, crafts, and jewelry industries. Most of the
tequila-producing communities in Mexico lie on an
east-west line from Jésus Maria, through Guadalajara
to Escobedo in the west. The two main areas of
production lie around the town of Tequila, and in
the highlands (Atotonilco, or
Los Altos) to the east. The hills of the area are
covered in agave farms sporting more than 100
million plants in spiky, gray-blue rows, 1,000 to
2,000 plants to an acre.
Today about 38,000 people work in the industry,
about
33,000 of them farmers and field hands. More than
50 million gallons of tequila are produced annually—about
forty percent of it exported. The indigenous people
in the Tequila area were called the Nahuatl, and the
town was founded under the Spanish commissioner Juan
Calero de Escarcena, in April 1530, at the base of
an extinct volcano. Tequila was made a municipality
in 1824 and finally became a city in 1974. Today it
has a population around 20,000.
Types of Tequila
1. Blanco
or plata is white or silver.
Aged less than sixty days in steel tanks, and may be
bottled fresh from distillation. Sometimes this is
more robust and peppery sharp than highly refined
varieties, especially if it’s 100 percent agave.
2. Joven abocado
is young and smooth. Basically the same as blanco,
but with coloring and flavoring ingredients added to
make it look aged. These are also called suave or
oro (gold) because of the coloring (usually from
added caramel, almond, vanilla and sometimes oak
essence). In the industry they’re known as mixto, or
mixed blends.
3. Reposado
means
“rested.” Aged from
two months to up to a year in oak casks or barrels.
The tastes become richer and more complex. The
longer the aging, the darker the color and the more
the wood affects the flavor. Reposado accounts for
more than sixty percent of all tequila sales in
Mexico.
4. Añejo
Añejo (aged) is vintage. Aged
in government-sealed barrels of no more than 350
liters, for a minimum of a year, up to eight or ten
years, although tequila doesn’t age well beyond four
or five years. It is usually removed from the
barrels and racked into stainless steel tanks after
four years. Many of the añejos become quite dark and
the influence of the wood is more pronounced than in
the reposado variety. After three or more years,
añejos may be called muy añejo or tres añejos by the
manufacturers. Reserva de casa usually means “premium,”
and may be a limited-production variety. Other
unofficial categories include gran reposado—aged
longer than the minimum—and blanco suave.
Types aside, all tequilas have similar alcohol
contents—around thirty to forty percent (76 to 80
proof), similar to spirits such as Scotch or vodka.
The most important identifier on the label, however,
is “100% agave” or “100% agave azul”—cien por ciento
de agave. This means it is made only from the blue
agave plant, it was approved by a government
inspector to ensure purity, and bottled in Mexico.
If it doesn’t say this, the alcohol can legally be
made with up to forty-nine per cent from non-agave
sugars—and still be called ‘tequila.’ Tequila made
with less than 100 percent agave is called “mixto”
but will not be labeled as such.
How to Drink Tequila
The traditional way
to drink tequila is to use a tall, narrow shot glass
called a caballito (“little horse”) or tequilito,
although most tequilas are perhaps better served in
a brandy snifter so you can appreciate their aroma.
The caballito, with its narrow base and wider mouth,
is modeled after the original bull’s horn, from
which tequila was drunk. The bottom was cut flat so
it could rest on a table. Sip it straight, without
the lime and the salt. Forget the margarita mix.
Don’t even add ice. If you want to taste it properly,
drink it at room temperature to appreciate the full
bouquet and body. Taste it as you would a fine wine—life
is really too short to miss out on enjoying it
properly.
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What Makes a Good Tequila
What makes a good
tequila? For some it is the earthy, vegetable taste
and aroma of the agave. For others it is the sharp
bite of the blanco or reposado. Still others prefer
the smooth, oaky body of the añejos. Edgar Allen
Poe’s three commandments for great writing—brevity,
intensity and effect—capture the essence of a good
tequila.
The best advice is to try
several brands and several types to find the taste
you like. Some distilleries have reputations for
making mild, spicy or earthy brands, others for a
strong alcohol finish or other tastes. A good way to
introduce yourself to tequila is to find a bar that
specializes in it, and a bartender who understands
the differences between the various types, or attend
a tequila tasting.
Common Myths About Tequila
Myth 1:
The worm. There is no worm in Mexican-bottled
tequila and it is not a Mexican tradition. There
never has been a worm in tequila. There is a
“worm”—a gusano, really a butterfly caterpillar— in
some bottles of mezcal, but not all. You may also
get a small bag of “worm salt”— dried gusano, salt,
and chili powder tied to a mezcal bottle.
Myth 2:
Tequila is a made from cactus.
Tequila is made from distilled sap from the hearts
(piñas) of the mature agave or maguey plant. This
plant is a succulent (not a cactus) related to the
lily and amaryllis.
Myth 3:
Tequila and mezcal are the same. Tequila is a type of
mezcal, but mezcals are not tequilas. They both
derive from varieties of the agave plant, but
tequila is made from only Agave tequilana Weber, or
blue agave. Despite many similarities, tequila and
mezcal are as different today as Scotch whisky and
rye. Most commercial mezcal is produced in Oaxaca
state, while most tequila is made in or near
Jalisco. Production processes are also very
different—obvious in their resulting tastes.
Myth 4:
Tequila is bottled home-brew. Production is tightly
controlled by the Mexican government and the Tequila
Regulatory Council (CRT). Statements made on the
bottle about age, style and content have legal
requirements. There is also a non-profit council
called the Chamber of Tequila Producers that
regulates the industry. Most manufacturers take
considerable pride in their production.
Myth 5:
The best tequilas cost the most. Price isn’t always
a good way to judge the value of things. A lot of
the cost may go to fancy packaging, designer bottles,
large advertising campaigns and simply to status and
image. There’s a large market of excellent mid-priced
tequilas available in Mexico. However, as a general
rule, premium and 100 percent agave tequilas cost
much more than mixtos.
Myth 6:
All tequilas are the same.
Tequilas vary considerably according to the company
making them, the processes, and the growing
environment. The temperature, soil, types of
equipment, age of the plants, how the plants are
baked and how the distilled tequila is aged all
affect the flavor, color, and body. There is a
surprisingly wide variation in tequila flavors—especially
between styles like blanco, reposado and añejo—and
even more between 100 percent agave and mixto
tequilas.
Finally, when drinking tequila, remember to explore,
enjoy, and sip in good health!
Additional Reading
Additional Reading
A New Time for Mexico, by Carlos Fuentes, University
of California Press (1997)
Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans, by
Alan Riding, Vintage; (1989)
The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings, by
Octavio Paz, Grove Press (1985)
Mexico: Biography of Power, by Enrique Krauze,
Perennial (1998)
The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The
Latin America Readers), by G.M. Joseph, Duke
University Press (2003)
Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy, by Julia
Preston and Samuel Dillon, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(2004)
The Oxford History of Mexico. by Michael C. Meyer,
Oxford University Press (2000)
Tequila: A Natural and Cultural History, by Ana
Guadalupe Valenzuela-Zapata and Gary Paul Nabhan and
Ana Guadalupe Valenzuela Zapata, University of
Arizona Press (2004)
Tequila: A Traditional Art of Mexico, by Alberto Ruy
Sanchez, and Margarita de Orellana (Editors),
Smithsonian Books (2004)
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