TEQUILA

History
Agave
Though a succulent, Agave is not a cactus. Along with some other familiar
plants, the genus Agave belongs to the botanical family Agavaceae. Mexico
supports the most diverse population of Agavaceae genera in the world,
boasting 75% of the family’s varieties— hundreds of species and subspecies.

Of those hundreds, Agave Tequilana Blue Weber is the only variety permitted
for the distillation of Tequila. For Mezcal, any Agave variety cultivated within
the Mezcal Domination of Origin is permitted. In other words, Mezcal can be
made with hundreds of varieties of Agave, while Tequila can only be made
with one. In order to be used in the production of distilled beverages, Agave
must reach a maturity point the more mature the plant, the more available
reducing sugars for fermentation. The Agave maturing process is a long one,
lasting from ve to forty- ve years. Imagine a wine grape taking forty- ve
years to mature, or grains for whiskey growing for half a century. Imagine the
prices!

Terroir
The concept of terroir was codi ed by Frenchmen, who took care to record the
links between soil, climate, culture, and nished products. As we well know,
French alcoholic beverages lead the world market, projecting an image of
excellence; French wines, Cognacs, Armagnacs, and Calvados are of
undisputed quality and complexity. Their well-earned reputation is sourced
from adherence to strict production criteria, as well as the emphasis put on the
origin of raw materials, the respect a orded to the fragility of ecosystems, the
topography, the climate, and an intimate understanding of the French way of
life. From a purely technical perspective, we can say that the terroirs of agave
distilled spirits surpass in many sensory categories those of a wine, Cognac or
any other distilled beverage. Consider that grapes, grains, and cane require less
than a year to ful ll their crop cycle. In that time, they develop much of their
organoleptic richness. Now consider what could be achieved by a crop whose
cycles can persist for forty- ve years, à la Agave.
Time is just one of countless variable elements — a scratch on the surface of
many conversations, or arguments, to be had. Another: if we consider the
sheer size of the Denominations of Origin, we can speculate on the endless
variations in terroir and con dently state that Tequilas and Mezcales o er us
an in nite variety of avors, aromas, and cultural traditions.

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Evolution and Di erences Between Mezcal & Tequila

Since early colonial times, not much has changed with respect to Mezcal
production. Mezcal and Tequila were not so di erent; they were produced
with kindred raw materials and comparable processes. For centuries, both
beverages were known collectively as Mezcal Wines, or just Mezcal.

Over the millennia since the inception of agave distillates, the privileged,
classist nature of the spirit’s consumption had dissipated. Mezcal had
become a spirit of the people, produced and enjoyed locally. It wasn’t until
the colonial arrival of powerful hacendados and latifundistas (landlords and
landowners, respectively), that changes swept the agave spirit landscape,
and the town of Tequila. What had for centuries been a traditional, ancestral
beverage of rural and native communities became a commercially available
product.

In the later decades of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th
Century, the town of Tequila made a considerable leap in its Mezcal Wine
production processes. Earthen re pits were replaced by brick ovens to
reduce Agave’s cooking time; tahonas (stone wheels rolled by oxen to crush
Agave) were replaced by sugar mills; clay and wood stills were replaced by
copper — all with the lone goal of increasing e iciency. In the same vein, the
Agave itself began to change. Producers discovered that one variety in
particular, Agave Tequilana Blue Weber, was perfect for large-scale spirit
production. It’s high sugar content and relatively short crop cycle allowed
for extraordinarily high yields, and the variety’s propensity to reproduce
asexually presented an opportunity for fast increases in production scale.
These changes presented a gigantic chasm: on one side, improvements in
production time and costs, on the other side, lost avors, scents, and the
fundamental traditions linked to the spirit’s history.

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Raw Material
Tequila production is limited to just one variety of Agave (Tequilana Blue Weber),
the genetic homogeneity of which presents damaging consequences. For more
than a century now, Agave Tequilana Weber has been cultivated asexually, through
cloning.
Mezcal acknowledges all varieties of Agave cultivated within its Denomination of
Origin, which number in the hundreds. This leeway, and the fact that many of the
varieties reproduce sexually, leads to great genetic diversity, healthy crops, and an
ever-changing spirit.

Production Methods
Tequila production has been mostly detached from traditional methods,
implementing processes that dilute raw material avors in favor of e iciency.

The menu of Tequilas is committed to its mission of representing and supporting

producers who respect the production methods we consider to be ethically sound
Tequila presented in our program complies with strict production requirements. As
Mezcal has survived the onslaughts of modernity and industrialization, every
Mezcal presented in this menu maintains ancestral and traditional methods. Unlike
Tequilas, Mezcales maintain solid cultural ties. These historic links, from long-lived
plants to ancestral production methods that originated 3500 years ago, push
Mezcal beyond a commercial product. Mezcales are expressions of the ancestral
and mysterious spirit, which guides us through its avors, and the millenary
journey in every sip.

Compliance with Di erent Regulations

NOM-006 marks the regulations the producer must comply with in order to be able
to call his product Tequila.

NOM-070 marks Mezcal.

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Location Guide

 TYPES
Blanco
Also known as: plata or silver tequila
Aged: up to two months
If you’ve ever ordered a Margarita or Paloma, chances are you’ve tried blanco, or
silver, tequila. It can be aged for up to two months, but is typically bottled
immediately after distillation, producing a clear, agave-forward spirit with notes of
citrus, grass, and pepper that blends seamlessly into citrusy cocktails.
Depending on the quality of the product, you might have previously relegated blanco
tequilas to mixed drinks or pounded as shots. But there are plenty of bottles, such as
Tequila Ocho Plata, that are prized for sipping. In fact, because blanco typically
spends no time in contact with oak, many tequila enthusiasts consider it the purest
expression of an agave spirit..

Reposado
Also known as: aged or rested tequila
Aged: between two months and one year
Reposado translates to “rested,” and this versatile expression indeed spends between
two months and one year resting in oak or steel, most typically oak barrels that once
held American whiskey. This time in the barrel imparts a light straw color and notes
that re ect the type of wood used, such as vanilla and caramel.
Reposado is a bartender favorite thanks to the sweet spot it hits between the
brightness of blanco tequila and oak-heavy añejo tequila. Ivy Mix, co-owner of
Leyenda in Brooklyn, New York, has likened the versatility of reposado tequila to that
of VSOP cognac: Spice and sweet aromatics render it complex enough for sipping,
but it is also works well in cocktails such as the Distrito Federal (Tequila Manhattan)
or a Cadillac Margarita, a richer version of the classic made with reposado instead of
blanco tequila.

Añejo
Also known as: extra aged tequila
Aged: one to three years
Some things are better with age, and añejo fans would add tequila to that list.
Translating to “old,” añejo tequilas must be aged for one to three years in oak. The
barrel size is limited to 600 liters to maximize interaction between the wood and the
tequila.
The result of this aging is a dark amber colored tequila with a smooth mouthfeel and
complex avor. Añejo tequilas often o er oak-forward notes of vanilla, caramel,
baking spices, and dried fruit. Due to its richer pro le, añejo is typically consumed as
a sipping tequila, but it also makes a good stand-in for whiskey in cocktails such as
the Añejo Old Fashioned.

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 HRC TEQUILA
COCKTAILS
ROCKIN' FRESH RITA
TROPICAL MARGARITA
MARGARITA
TEQUILA SUNRISE

BOTTLES
JOSE CUERVO GOLD
DON JULIO ANEJO
DON JULIO BLANCO
PATRON BLANCO SILVER 220
PATRON ANEJO
PATRON BLANCO SILVER

SHOTS
JOSE CUERVO SILVER
JOSE CUERVO GOLD
SAUZA GOLD
PATRON BLANCO
DON JULIO BLANCO