One Tequila, two Tequila, three Tequila, floor (George Carlin)

Tequila history lie with the indigenous Aztec people of Mexico, the Chichimecans, the Toltecans, the Otomis and the Nahuatls who made a beverage with the agave plant long before the Spaniards arrived in a village called Tequila in the shade of a dormant volcano called tequila in the land they called Tenchinchan
Tequila was first produced in the 16th century near the location of the the city of tequila, which was not officially established until 1656. The Aztec people 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 conquistadors ran out of their own brandy, they began to distill agave to produce North America`s first distilled spirit

The tequila that is popular today was first mass-produced in the early 19th century in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Don Cenobio Sauza founder of Sauza tequila and president of the village of tequila from 1884-1885 was the first to export tequila to the United States and shortened the name from "tequila extract" to just"tequila" from the American market. Don Cenobio`s grand son Don 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 Jalisco

The tequila process

The "jima" consists in cutting off the leaves of the plant Agave tequilana Weber blue variety down to its base, to keep only the heart of agave, which is the raw material of tequila. The person who does this is called "jimador"

Cooking or hydrolysis. is the process of transformation of the complex starches of the agave into simple sugars, which are easily fermented and converted into alcohol, this is done through heat or other methods like hydrolysis.

Extraction of honeys: before or after cooking, the sugars or starches obtained from the pineapples of agave must be separated from the fiber in order to use these sugars for fermentation

The formulation: in this step, it will be decided which category of Tequila will be done and the juices obtained from the extraction are prepared for fermentation

The fermentation is where the transformation of vegetable sugars into ethylic alcohol is carried out thanks to the work of yeasts. Other components will also be formed during this step that will contribute to the final sensorial attributes of the Tequila

Aging is the slow transformation of Tequila that lets it acquire additional sensorial characteristics like odor, color and texture by physical chemical processes that in a natural way have place during its storage in recipients or barrels of wood oak or holm oak. The extra aged and ultra aged tequilas must be matured in wooden barrels not larger than 600 liters

Bottling is the action of pouring the Tequila in the recipients that will contain it in order to keep it and protect its physical and chemical stability and market it. Tequila must be bottled in new recipients, allowed by the sanitary authorities. The range of alcoholic content allowed by the standard of Tequila is from 35 to 55 alcohol percentage by volume. Both categories of Tequila may be enhanced by the addition of sweeteners, colorings, fragrances and/or flavorings allowed by the Ministry of Health of Mexico

STATES PART OF THE APPELLATION OF ORIGIN OF TEQUILA

The appellation of Origin of Tequila is formed by 181 municipalities from 5 different Mexican states, which are Jalisco in its entirety with 125 municipalities, Nayarit with 8, Guanajuato with 7, Tamaulipas with 11 and Michoacan with 30.

Only in these municipalities the raw material for Tequila, Agave tequilana Weber blue variety, may be harvested and used for the production of Tequila

No other alcoholic drink produced in Mexico or abroad can be named "Tequila"

The agave tequilana Weber blue variety is the heart and life of Tequila. It belongs to the amaridillaceas family, with long, fibrous, green-blue colored leaves, and whose main and colorful parts is the pineapple or heart

CATEGORIES AND CLASSES OF TEQUILA

There are two basic types of Tequila 100% agave and Tequila, and five classes for each one; white or silver, young or gold, aged, extra aged, and ultra aged

Tequila 100% agave is produced only from the fermented and distilled juces of the Agave tequilana Weber blue variety and it is bottled exclusively at the AOT

Tequila is made with at least 52% of Agave tequilana Weber blue variety sugars and 49% of sugars from other sources.

Silver

Gold

Aged (2 months aging)

Extra aged (1 year in barrels)

Ultra aged (3 years in barrels)

The Tequila Standard NOM-006-SCFI-2005 allows the existence or two categories: Tequila 100% Agave and Tequia, and five classes for eachone, white or silver, young or gold, aged, extra aged, and ultra aged.

Interesting facts:

*In the United States, July 24 is National Tequila day (go figure)

* the Agave is not a cactus plant as rumored, but belongs to the lilly family and has long spiny leafs (pencas)

* it takes 8 to 12 years for the agave plant to reach maturity

*More than 300 million plants are harvested each year in Jalisco alone

*If you are not sure of the authenticity of your Tequila look for the acronym NOM and the *unique 4 digit number and the acronym CRT

THE WORM

There 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 (with a worm), and that only began as a marketing gimmick in the 1940s. The worm is actually the larval form of the moth Hypopta agavis, which lives on the agave plant. Finding one in the plant during processing indicates an infestation and correspondingly, a lower quality product. However this misconception continues, and even with all the effort and marketing to represent Tequila as a premium liquor similar to the way-Cognac is viewed in relation to other brandies, there are some opportunist producers for the shooters-and-fun market who blur this boundaries