10 Things You Never Knew
About Tequila

Tequila has a sacred and mystical origin story.

On our drive from Guadalajara up to the highlands of Arandas, our local guide, Tania Oseguera, explained the history and legend of tequila's heritage. The agave plant was a sacred crop for the pre-Hispanic Mexican people. They stripped the leaves to make thatch roofs, they made paper and clothing from the plant's fibers and used the plant's needles for sewing. The only thing they didn't use was the thick, round core. Those they typically disagreed, until a bolt of lightening struck a pile of discarded cores, essentially cooking them. The cooked agave smelled sweet, like pumpkin pie, and the natives began eating it and drinking the juice. Once the juice fermented, it took on the alcoholic properties and some might say became even more sacred. Eventually, the Spanish would come and introduce the concept of distilling.

Tequila is one of the world's most labor intensive spirits to make.

An agave plant must grow for six to ten years before it's ready to be harvested. Then the "piña," or root bulb of the agave cactus, is shorn of its spiky leaves and cooked. The roasted piñas are then juiced and the juice is fermented before being distilled. The tequilas are finished by aging in wooden barrels; the amount of time aging changes what type of tequila is finally produced. Oseguera, our guide, joked that even "a bottle of unaged blanco tequila takes, at the very least, six years to produce."

It takes a lot of love
to produce a good tequila.

The small batch approach takes more time, but always yields a better final product. Slow-roasting the agave is one thing, but what about playing classical music throughout the fermentation process? Oseguera explained that Cazadores' master distiller is a believer in the Mozart effect on all living things, so the music is used to relax the yeast during fermentation.

Serious tequila drinkers don't do shots.

Instead, they sip tequila from a special tequila glass or snifter. That way, the spirit's complex flavors and aromas can be properly experienced and enjoyed. Our guide gave us an expert lesson in tasting tequila. How to identify the flavors and the importance of breathing during a tasting. She said the proper way to taste the spirit is this: let the tequila coat the top of your tongue, take a breath in through your nose, swallow and then exhale.

Another way we enjoyed sipping an aged tequila? Chased with an orange slice dipped in cinnamon, which brought out all the warm spiced flavors of the tequila.

An unopened bottle can last years.

But after opening a bottle of tequila, you should drink it within two to three months. Leaving it open any longer puts it at risk of oxidization and evaporation, which lowers the quality of the tequila and diminishes the flavor profile.