Tequila in Guadalajara

Today is my last evening in Guadalajara and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Emma and Lauren joined me for the weekend on a break from volunteering and so on Friday we took the 6 hour bus from PV to Guadalajara, the second biggest city in Mexico and in my opinion a hidden gem. We hadn’t booked hostel and so we ended up getting a really great deal in an extremely seedy hotel which we suspected was home to many prostitutes at night..

"Child  prostition is illegal- Report it" - Sign on hotel door.

Blue Agave plant.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early as we had booked a Tequila tour. It seemed only fitting given that Tequila originates from the region! Manuel our guide was great and as he took us around a small tequila distillery called "Tres Mujeres" he explained the whole process: Tequila is produced from the blue agave plant which looks a little like an aloe vera plant. It is grown all year round and after 8 years it is mature enough to be harvested. This involved cutting off all the leaves leaving just the piña (heart) of the plant. I got a go at harvesting and it was surprisingly easy!

Harvesting

The plant is then cooked for 24 hours leaving a very sweet tasting delicacy. The next process is to squeeze out the juices from the fibre 5 times and the juices are then fermented naturally for 6-12 days depending on the weather. Natural fermentation means that the juice was left in huge open vats with no extra yeast to be fermented by the natural bacteria and mosquitoes in the air. After this, the liquid is distilled twice to produce 75% tequila. As by law tequila can only be produced in 5 regions of Mexico (Jalisco, Nayurit, Guanajuato, Chiapas and Michoacan) and must be between 35% and 55% alcohol distilled water is added. There are four types of tequila:

Fermentation vats

Blanco: Clear liquid, bottled straight after distillation

Reposado: Rested in oak barrels for 3-9 months

Añejo: Rested in oak barrels for 1-3 years
Extrañejo: Rested in pack barrels for 6 years.
 We got to taste them all and were taught to smell, touch and savour them! They are nothing like the tequila we do shots with in Europe! My favourites were blanco and extrañejo (the most expensive!!).

The rest of the tour involved a visit to the actual town of Tequila which was full of bars selling Tequila but a tick in the box!

In the evening we decided to head to the suburbs to an area called Tlaquepaque which was very chilled, full of artisan products and we spent a generally lovely evening with good food, Mariachi (local musicians) and even getting chatted up by a couple of policemen as we waited for the last bus home.

Sunday was spent wandering the town, visiting the splendid cathedral and n excellent exhibition about José Clemente Orozco who painted some impressively deep and sometimes very disturbing murals.

A great start to my big adventure!

Soph xxx