Tequila Elaboration and Process

Process begins with the "jima"

Hot to make tequila ? Well, making tequila has an elaborate process. The process of tequila elaboration begins with the harvesting of the blue agave with regional denomination of origin called “Tequila Weber variedad azul.” 

This agave plant takes about 6 to 8 years to be ready to “jima”, however 10 years is premium time for the agave to reach its ripest state that would provide the best sugar levels and be ultimate for jima, which is the Process of removing agave leaves and making the root come loose.

Often the high-end tequilas use the quality control and separate the agave heads or piñas depeding on the sugar levels by taking a sample before cooking. High level sugars go to high-end production.

Cooking The Agave

The process of cooking the piñas is for the purpose of converting the complex agave carbohydrates into simple sugar and in turn soften the piñas for easier extraction and to make the fermentation process easier.

The most traditional method of cooking is by steam press in brick ovens for a period of 60 to 72 hours. After the cooking the agave heads are moved to the milling area to extract the sugars.

Extraction of Sugars

In this process the piñas de agave are moved to the mills, where the extraction begins by extracting the sugars from the agave fibers.

During the milling the piñas are ripped when they go through the machine that crushes the little pieces of agave.

Then all the fiber goes to a separate section where water is added to obtain the most sugars out of it.

Fermentation

The fermentation is a very important part of the process because it is during this process that the sugars are transformed into alcohol with the help of different kinds yeast.

The fermentation happens in large stainless still tanks and the process takes several hours depending on the distillery.

But ranging from 12 to 72 hours depending on the level of alcohol reached, which in most case is between 5% and 7% depending on the desired tequila.

Distillation

Distillation is a procedure in which the ferments are separated by way of heat and steam pressure. This process is carried out in stainless steal alembics. There are two stages of distillation.

The first time the tequila is distilled is for the purpose of smashing it and it produces an alcohol concentration between 20% and 25%.

The second distillation is for rectification to enhance the alcohol levels to around 55%  and obtain the product that then will be slightly diluted with water to reach the 38% to 42% of alcohol which is the product that we all drink (blanco), because the aged goes to maturation

Maturation

The maturation stage is for tequilas reposados y añejos, the tequila blanco rests in barrels where it will mature, acquire color and enrich the aroma. These barrels are of course made of white oak from America or France.

The maturing process takes from 6 months to 32 months depending on the type of tequila desired based upon on aging time.

Bottling

Before beginning to bottle it, all tequila needs to be filtered for cellulose or activated charcoal residues.

Consumption

And of course we all love and drink tequila!