Country of origin:
Mexico

Why we love it:
Because it’s delicious! Duh. Also, because it’s the nation’s fastest growing liquor. Since 2002, sales of premium and super premium tequila have been up 28 percent. Jump on the bandwagon, why don’t ya?

Where to find it (besides the liquor store):
Tequila, Mexico. Tequila is located in the western state of Jalisco, 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara.

What it’s made of:
Agave, or Agave Tequiliana Azul (Blue Agave), or Tequilana Weber, depending on whom you ask. For the purposes of this history, we are calling it just “agave”.

Classifications:
Tequila is regulated by the Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico.

To make it easy, we will first split Tequila into two categories. 100% Blue Agave and Tequila Mixto. The only way you know for sure is to read the bottle. If it doesn’t say “100% Blue Agave”, then it’s the other stuff.

As the names suggest, Tequila Mixto is not all agave. It contains additives like glycerin, syrup, caramel color, (ew) and flavoring from oak to make it taste aged. It must be 51% Blue Agave, but that’s it.

100 % Blue Agave is just that, all Agave, all the time. The tequila is distilled, then aged (not flavored) in wood (usually oak, ala bourbon and scotch and, well, most aged alcoholic substances).  The amount of aging it does will dictate the category it is then placed into, which brings us to…

Types of Tequila:

Blanco: aka White, Plata and or Silver Tequila (Can be 100% Blue Agave or Tequila Mixto)
This tequila is not aged. It goes straight from the distilling into bottling, with perhaps a few weeks in stainless steel tanks. Because wood is used to mellow the flavor, the Blanco’s can be a little harsh and less complex (i.e. fewer flavors).

Gold: aka Oro (Tequila Mixto)
Unfortunately, “Gold” isn’t as refined as it sounds. (we Americans fall for such things, silly gringos) Blanco tequila is taken and mixed with Reposado tequilas (reposado means “rested” in Spanish) or Anejo tequilas (anejo = “aged”) and then mixed again with those colorings, syrups and wood extracts to achieved a more “aged” flavor. Think non-fat “gourmet” ice cream. Also unfortunate is that this is the type of tequila that ends up in your drink at a bar if you do not specify something better.

Reposado: (100% Blue Agave)
Here’s where we get into the good stuff. This one has no fillers, and is aged in wood for two to eleven months. Because it gets a little time with the wood, that harsh straight liquor taste is mellowed, and the color is more golden. The more upscale Reposados boast being aged in casks previously inhabited by wine, bourbon, or whiskey, which means they take on those delicious flavors as well.

Añejo: (100% Blue Agave)
If the tequila makes it into a barrel for more than a year, it is labeled an Añejo or “aged” tequila. Just like the Reposado, Añejo is aged in oak, and furthers the journey of mellowness and complexity of flavors from a year to three years, in barrels that are no larger than 160 gallons. Just like scotch, the longer the tequila remains in oak, the more expensive it becomes, and some would argue, the better.

Extra Añejo: (100% Blue Agave)
It was bound to happen. Tequila makers decided that they needed a classification for the REAL OLD stuff. I mean, why does scotch, whisky and wine get to have all the fun? In 2006, the TRCM ruled that any tequila aged for more than 3 years gets the label Extra Añejo. Just like the Añejo, the barrels can’t be more than 160 gallons, and the liquor gets darker and richer. DrinkGal has had a few of these, and they are startlingly similar to scotch or whiskey.

Mezcal:(NOT Blue Agave)
Is Mezcal a tequila or tequila a mezcal?  Well, depends on whom you ask. The word Mezcal is used to describe liquor that is made from agave that is NOT tequila. The difference being that Tequila is made from Blue Agave, and mezcal is made from various kinds of the other agave plants, each of the five species of agave producing a different flavor of Mezcal. It is also only distilled once, usually, which makes it more rugged in flavor profile. It’s an acquired taste, to be sure.

Oaxaca is the center of Mezcal production, and we recommend visiting there. It is quite the beautiful place, and if one can stroll down the street and try free samples of mezcal (which one can) the place is one for the short list.

We found Mezcal to be generally smokier and not as pleasant as beloved tequila. However, drinking is a personal experience, and she encourages the reader to try it. There are a handful of mezcals out there that are exceptional, Fidencio being the first that comes to mind.

History:
Much like the way the name “Champagne” is directly derived from the region in France where it is produced, Tequila is a unique product of Mexico and named for the region it hails from. Because Agave itself is a native plant of Mexico, it should not be surprising that Tequila is North America’s first distilled liquor, and the one that has the most turbulent past.

Wee found evidence to suggest that tequila was “discovered” in as early as the mid 1500’s when the Spaniards arrived in Mexico, conquest in their heads. However, modern distilling techniques place the true origin of what we call tequila today more in the vicinity of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Mezcal is the forefather and now cousin to tequila, and was most likely the drink the Spanish Conquistadors “found” and subsequently made when they ran out of French Brandy.

It appears the Aztecs also produced octli or pulque, which is made from agave as well. The dates are fuzzy, but the assumption is that it was similar to mezcal. In true indigenous fashion, other parts of the plant were used to make mats, clothing, rope and paper. How long they made pulque is hard to say, but we sure are glad the Aztecs kept at it!

The word tequila, best we can tell, means “the place of harvesting plants” or “the place of wild herbs” or “place where they cut” or “the place of work” or perhaps “place of tricks”. Whew! Regardless, the town of Tequila was founded in 1656, and luckily for it, it was right on the route to the port of San Blass. This put Tequila right in the path, so to speak, of mass distribution.

The next part you may have an inkling of already. The first person to be a licensed producer of tequila was Jose Antonio Cuervo. The king of Spain at the time gave him the land to grow Blue Agave in 1758, and now frat boys everywhere slam shots of his creation with salt and lime.

Even though the town of Tequila was in the right place to distribute their product to the world, Mexico had to win its independence for the liquor to get past the hands of the Spanish. After 1821 though, the dam was broken.

Cuervo, as you may know, still has a big hold on the tequila market, being the oldest and largest manufacturer of the stuff. He is joined by Sauza and Herradura. They all seem to jockey for the top three spots, with Sauza (as of July 2008) being the most popular, but Cuervo still being the top producer.

But we digress! The Revolution in the early 1900s made tequila a point of Mexican pride, and when the United States had it’s prohibition in the 1920’s, who to turn to but your neighbor? Our loss was their gain, and the United States remains one of the biggest, if not THE biggest importer of tequila in the world.

It happened again during WWII, when the United States was again having trouble getting any spirits from Europe. We turned to Mexico again for our libations, and have been trying unsuccessfully to kick the habit ever since.

Like any liquor, once it was clear that money was to be made from it, the government took action to regulate (read: profit from it). In 1944, the Mexican government decided that if it was to be called tequila, it would have to be distilled in Jalisco. (here, we go back to the notion of “Champagne” being from that specific region of France). It remains that way today, that tequila is made in and around Tequila. It’s handy, because the Blue Agave only grows in that region.

Tequila Today
The government of Mexico still requires tequila to be at least 51% Blue Agave. The Chamber of Tequila Producers (or Makers), which is a non-profit council that also regulates the Tequila, has taken the mantle up and regulates everything from distilling to growing to bottling. They are also in the business of improving tequila’s image to the world, which they take just as seriously as, let’s say, the French take their cognac.

Tequila is gaining popularity like a freight train, and IS being taken as seriously as any other liquor, and has been likened to scotch in smoothness and flavor profile. There was a bilateral agreement signed in 1997 that has the E.U. recognizing Tequila as a “denomination of origin”, which loosely means that Tequila receives the same recognition as Champagne, Cognac, Grappa and Scotch, respectively.

What does that mean? It means there are a lot of people who think their liquor is a BIG deal, that they want other people who think liquor is a big deal to recognize that they are a big deal TOO. We are happy that tequila got it’s due, but also think a lot of people spend a lot of time proving things to each other. Regardless, we think there are some tasty tequilas out there, and think you should try them.

And for heaven’s sakes, put down the salt and lime. We taught you better.

Añejo Tequila history Jalisco Mezcal Tequila