Tequila Trip – Day 2

Today we leave Guadalajara for the Arandas and Atotonilco El Alto to visit three distilleries.

Centinela, Tequila Alquimia, and Siete Leguas

This is the highlands area of tequila making.

Centinela was the largest distillery we visited.  Their production is all automated and I believe they are ninth on the production list at around 60 hectoliters a year.

We were given tastings of their regular line and we leaned toward the reposado until we were given a taste of a 7 year bottle.

All in all a very nice distillery, but I still favor the small boutique brands.

 

 

 

 

Next we visited the agave fields of Tequila Alquimia.

This is a certified organic tequila. The field was in great health and looked amazing.  They explained to us that they take extra time to plant their fields with a specific amount of space between each agave. They believe this allows the agave better growing.  When you looked at the corporate fields that surrounded Alquimia the fields looked worn out and tired.  I’m not sure I require a tequila to be certified organic, but Alquimia’s agaves looked healthy and big compared to the others.

We got to spend time tasting the blanco and anejo.  Really enjoyed the blanco.

 

Thanks to Alquimia for giving us a bottle as a gift.

 

 

 

 

 

Last visit today is Seite Leguas.

This was my second favorite distillery on the tour.  They blend the old with the new very well.

Here is a picture of the tahona extraction.  The stone is crushing the cooked agave’s to extract the liquid.  The next step is to ferment the liquid. Siete Leguas ferments the liquid with the agave solids.  I found this different then most other places.

One of the best parts of this tour was that the owner, Fernando, was with us the during the tour.  He was willing to answer all of our questions and I believe enjoyed showing us his work.  During our tastings we were allowed to taste some special things that they are working on for future release.

Fernando – Thanks for taking the time and giving us a special trip into your family business.  I’m am a fan and will support and drink your product always.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a link with more pictures from our tequila tour.
These photos are from Nathan Goins who was on the tour with me.  His photos are from the whole tour and I will include this link on all my posts, because his photos are much better then mine.
Thanks for sharing Nathan.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/agfox18/sets/72157628408796845/

 

Salud!