A trip to Tequila

Friday January 29, 2009

The beautiful blue agave plants line the hillsides.

Less than a two hour drive from Ajijic, through Guadalajara, is the town of Tequila, where Tequila (the drink) was originally made. Although it is not the only town in this area that has Tequila distilleries, it is the biggest. We parked our car close to the plaza down town and went in to the first Tequila distillery we came to, Jose Cuervo, to go on a tour. The whole process is very interesting, and we were allowed to sample raw agave, pictured above, roasted agave and of course, Tequila in different stages of production. These "pina's" typically weigh 60-80 pounds, below they are carrying them into the roasting oven.

In some parts of the tour, we were not allowed to take photos because it might be too dangerous.... with the amount of alcohol in the air, they didn't want anything that might spark to be used. Most (75%) of the tequila produced in Mexico is exported. Their biggest customer is the US but surprisingly the second biggest is Greece (because of tourism).
At the end of the tour, we were served a yummy margarita on a nice out door patio. We got a picture of Phil out in the field, cutting agave.... working hard after a few shots of tequila!