TEQUILA

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TEQUILA
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Blue Agave

• Tequila is produced by removing the heart of the
  plant in its twelfth year, normally weighing
  between 3590 kg (77198 lb).
• This heart is stripped of leaves and heated to
  remove the sap, which is fermented and distilled.
• Sap - štáva

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Seven-step process

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

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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.

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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.

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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, drevená palicka
• Stomp on it - šlápnout na to

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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, hul, klacek
• Trample rošlapat, dupat (po)

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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 - štepkování

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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.

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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.

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Fermentation

• Fermentation has other limits such as
  temperature.
• Greater than 27C kills the yeast less and than
  15C results in yeast activity which is too slow.
  
• Too high an amount of sugar in the solution can
  prevent fermentation.
• Solution - roztok

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 tríslovina
• Immerse - uložit

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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 - zmeknout

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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

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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.

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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

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The End