A Detailed Outline of How Tequila is Made

Introduction

Tequila occupies the same level of importance in the alcohol industry like wine, champagne or scotch. It is a distilled spirit with origins in Mexico that is prepared from the blue agave plant. What makes tequila different from other alcoholic beverages is that tequila has very strict manufacturing regulations, which are an attempt to keep the drink original and preserve its geographical origins. The very first rule of making tequila is that it can be manufactured only in Mexico, that too in a few selected regions.

Harvesting Blue Agave Plant

If you search for ‘how is tequila made’, you may come across pictures of a cactus-like plant on the internet. That plant is blue agave, from which tequila is distilled. Blue agave plants need to be perfectly ripe before their core or ‘piña’ as it is locally called, is removed and subjected to further processing. The maturity period for blue agave plants is excruciatingly long, with the plants taking 6–10 years to ripen for picking. Scores of the blue agave plant are maintained in farms for nearly a decade per batch, which requires proper care and attention.

Roasting the Piña

After the cores are picked from the ripened blue agave plant, they are sent for roasting, which is an important process in tequila production. This is where the main liquid is extracted from the piña and fermented later. Roasting takes place in special, customized furnaces that are designed specifically for piña roasting. When they are roasted, the starch present inside them is slowly turned into sugar which gives tequila their trademark taste. Roasting is to be done carefully, for any misstep can result in expensive losses in terms of time, quality and sustainability. Roasted piña is then shredded to a pulp to extract its juices.

Fermentation of Extracted Juice

The extracted juice from piña is taken to a distillery where it is to be fermented. This is done by adding yeast to it; different manufacturers have their own trademarked styles of adding yeast, but the result is always similar, which is turning the juice into a proper alcoholic drink. Fermentation is often done in a repeated set of steps to get rid of any impurities and obtained clean, distilled tequila. The distillation process continues until a clear, transparent, water-like liquid is obtained. This liquid can either be packaged as Blanco tequila or sent for aging to create other tequila variants.

Aging of Distilled Tequila

Distilleries that manufacture premium, aged tequilas store clear tequila in barrels for the aging process. Different types of tequila require different durations of aging; gold tequilas require 2 months of aging, Reposado tequilas require 1 year of aging, Añejo tequilas need to be aged for 1–3 years and the most expensive Extra Añejo tequila needs to be aged for 3+ years. There is a great deal of variation of taste depending on the duration of age and the type of barrel used for aging.

Bottling and Shipping

The final step involves the bottling of tequila and shipping it all around Mexico and worldwide. Because tequila comes only from Mexico, all tequila in the world is imported from Mexico.