TEQUILA

Tequila

Tequila is an agave-based spirit made primarily in the area surrounding Tequila, 65 kilometres in the northwest of Guadalajara and in the highlands (Los Altos) of the western Mexican state of Jalisco.

Tequila

• The volcanic soil in the region surrounding Tequila is particularly well suited to the growing of the blue agave, and more than 300 million of the plants are harvested there each year.

Blue Agave

• The blue agave grows natively in Jalisco, favoring the high altitudes of more than 1,500 m and sandy soil.

• Commercial and wild agaves have very different life cycles.

• Both start as a large succulent, with spiky leaves, which can grow to over two meters in length.

Blue Agave

• The flowers are pollinated by a native bat and produce several thousand seeds per plant.

• The plant then dies. • The shoots are removed when about a year

old from commercial plants to allow the heart to grow larger.

Blue Agave

• Tequila is produced by removing the heart of the plant in its twelfth year, normally weighing between 35–90 kg (77–198 lb).

• This heart is stripped of leaves and heated to remove the sap, which is fermented and distilled.

• Sap - šťáva

Seven-step process

• 1. Harvest• 2. Cooking• 3. Shredding - drcení• 4. Fermenting• 5. Distillation• 6. Ageing (reposado and añejo types)• 7. Bottling

Harvest (Jima)• Harvesting the agave plant remains a

manual effort, unchanged by modern farming technologies.

• The agave is planted, and harvested by hand.

• The men who harvest it, the "jimadores", contain generations of knowledge about the plants and the ways in which they need to be harvested.

Cooking

• Once the piñas have been harvested, they are usually split into halves or even quarters, depending on their size.

• These are carefully stuffed by hand into the ovens for cooking.

• Traditional distillers let the piñas soften in the steam ovens or for 50-72 hours at moderate heat.

Shreding

• Crushing the baked agave to extract the juices

• Originally, the manufacturers beat the piñas with large wooden mallets to break them up once they were soft and cool, then stomping on them like grapes to get the juices out..

• Mallet – palice, dřevěná palička• Stomp on it - šlápnout na to

Shreding

• After baking the cooked hearts are taken to the crusher where they are broken up, mashed and squeezed by a variety of imperfect methods.

• The most common approach is to beat the material with huge wooden clubs, before trampling it to release the juice.

• Club – palice, hůl, klacek• Trample – rošlapat, dupat (po)

Shreding

• Modern distilleries use a mechanical crusher, or shredder, like a giant wood-chipping machine to process out the waste bagazo (the agave fibres, usually given away as animal food or used as fertilizer on the fields).

• wood-chipping - štěpkování

Fermentation

• There is a step in the production of alcohol that is outside the control of the humans who so carefully manage every other stage.

• It is almost magical, in that it occurs even without our intervention.

• That step is fermentation.

Fermentation

• In technical terms, fermentation is the conversion of sugars to alcohol by yeast in anerobic conditions.

• Yeasts are funny creatures: a plant that seems willing to sacrifice itself for our benefit.

• They can take the sugars and carbohydrates and, through various enzymatic processes, turn them into alcohol as a waste product.

Fermentation

• Fermentation has other limits such as temperature.

• Greater than 27°C kills the yeast less and than 15°C results in yeast activity which is too slow.

• Too high an amount of sugar in the solution can prevent fermentation.

• Solution - roztok

Distillation

• Distillation also varies among tequila distillers.

• Most claim to distill their ferment twice and some will proudly claim triple distillation.

• The first distillation is always a rough, low grade distillate and the second or third run is used to purify it.

Ageing

• Of the five types of tequila, blanco (also called plata, white or silver) and joven (a mixto) are not aged.

• Blanco tequilas may be stored in sealed, stainless steel tanks, but this does not age the tequila.

Ageing

• Reposado, añejo and extra añejo are all aged in wooden (oak) barrels.

• The most common barrels in use are previously-used American whisky barrels (Jack Daniels is the most commonly seen).

• However, there are also Canadian and French barrels to be seen in use.

Ageing

• Wood also darkens the tequila, so newer barrels can rapidly make an añejo very dark.

• Barrels last 25-30 years, but each has only a five-year lifespan for any batch of tequila, after which all of the tannins are fully immersed into the tequila.

• Tannin – tříslovina• Immerse - uložit

Bottling

• Bottling is done using automated filling machines, and may also include a production line for washing bottles (automated), placing cork (sometimes done manually), applying labels, and checking for clarity and quality control.

• In some cases, labels are even hand-painted.

Types of Tequila

• Tequila can only be produced in Mexico, in the Tequila Region, and must comply with strict Mexican government regulations.

• Tequila must be made with at least 51% blue agave juices.

• This tequila may be exported in bulk to be bottled in other countries.

• It may be Blanco, Gold, Reposado, or Añejo.

Mezcal

• All liquors distilled from any agave plant are "mezcal", but only those made from the blue agave are branded as Tequila, all the others are mezcal.

• The most famous mezcal is distilled from a variety of agave grown in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

Types of Tequila

Tequila 100% Agave • Must be made with 100% blue agave juices

and must be bottled at the distillery in Mexico.

• It may be Blanco, Reposado, or Añejo.

Types of Tequila

Blanco or Silver• This is the traditional tequila that started it

all. • This type of tequila must be bottled

immediately after the distillation process.• It is usually strong and is traditionally

enjoyed in a "caballito" (2 oz small glass).

Types of Tequila

Oro or Gold• Is tequila Blanco mellowed by the addition

of colorants and flavorings, caramel being the most common.

• It is the tequila of choice for frozen Margaritas.

• Mellow - změknout

Types of Tequila

Reposado or Rested• It is Blanco that has been kept (or rested) in

white oak barrels for more than two months and up to one year.

• The oak barrels give Reposado a mellowed taste, and its pale color.

• These tequilas have experienced exponential demand and high prices.

• To experience - zažít

Types of Tequila

Añejo or Aged• It is Blanco tequila aged in white oak casks

for more than a year. • Maximum capacity of the casks should not

exceed 600 liters (159 gallons). • The amber (žlutá) color and woody flavor are

picked up from the oak, and the oxidation that takes place through the porous wood develops the unique bouquet and taste.

Types of Tequila

Reserva• Although not a category in itself, it is a

special Añejo that certain distillers keep in oak casks for up to 8 years.

• Reserva enters the big leagues of liquor both in taste and in price.

• Cask - sud

The End