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Tres Agaves
Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Lounge
Each Blue Weber Agave grows in the rich Jalisco soil for six to ten years before being it is ready to be used for Tequila. At that point the plants are harvested by jimadors. These highly skilled workers often come from families that have been in the business for many generations.
After deciding when the agaves are appropriately ripe, the jimadors painstakingly slice off the long leaves in order to access the core of the plant, called the piña. The piñas are then hauled out of the fields to large ovens where they are roasted before having the juice pressed out of them.
Traditionally, this juicing is accomplished by crushing the roasted piñas with a large wheel-shaped stone called a tahona, which is hauled by a donkey around a crushing pit. Today, most distilleries do it with a machine but there are a few major holdouts still using the traditional tahona method.
The juice is then transferred to vats where it is fermented using naturally occurring or cultivated yeasts. At this stage, the agave juice (aguamiel) turns into a mildly alcoholic beer. If consumed in this state, it is called pulque.
Next, the aguamiel is transferred to a still for distillation. In the still, it is carefully heated to boiling temperatures so that the evaporated liquid, or spirit, can be collected. This process must be repeated once, and is often repeated twice to produce an exceptionally pure and smooth beverage which can now legally be called Tequila.
The different varieties (blanco, reposado, añejo and extra añejo) are produced by aging the Tequila in wood barrels for varying amounts of time.