(ed. note: This article was originally written in 2003, and reflected the current state of Tequileria Corralejo at that time)
An aerial view of Guanajuato
Where does Tequila come from?
“From Mexico”, I hear you say–and that’s correct–but how do the Mexicans get the stuff? Well, that question is a little more difficult to answer–that they make it from a cactus is just one of the many myths surrounding Tequila. In April 2003, my wife participated in the 7th International Symposium on Applied Bioinorganic Chemistry (ISABC7) in the picturesque town of Guanajuato, Mexico, and I accompanied her for a photo trip.
The social highlight of the conference was a visit to Tequileria Corralejo, which is located in the state of Guanajuato. This is one of only a handful of tequilerias that are not situated in the state of Jalisco–the heartland of tequila production, and home of the town of Tequila that has given the drink its name.The Tequileria Corralejo is housed on the grounds of the Ex-Hacienda Corralejo, which was founded in 1755, and is claimed to be the first estate in Mexico to produce commerical tequila. According to Ian Chadwick, the modern day tequileria opened its doors in 1996, but some of their equipment did look a lot older to me, and the methods they are using to produce their award winning tequila appear to be very traditional.
Tequila is made from a plant called Weber Blue Agave (agave tequilana weber azul) that is grown in certain designated areas of Mexico. Agaves are not cacti, but belong to the succulents. Well over a hundred different species of agave grow in Mexico, and my pictures are only meant to show you what an agave looks like. Maybe a botanist in the audience could enlighten us whether or not they show true Weber Blue Agave.
Tequila afficiandos make a great fuss over the question of whether a tequila is produced 100% from Weber Blue Agave. If this is not the case, the tequila is called a ‘mixto’ and considered to be of much lesser quality. Corralejo’s policy in this regard, according to their own web site is to “use approximately 70% Weber Blue Agave from within the appellation and 30% Blue Agave from more fertile regions of Mexico. For this reason, we choose not to state 100% Agave Azul on our labels, even though our products are made entirely from agave. Our master distiller knows that his unique selection of agaves for Corralejo produces the very best, true yet mellow tequila.” Indeed, Corralejo Tequila is highly regarded among most connoisseurs, and some have expressed their surprise when they found out that Corralejo does not carry the 100% label. Personally I believe it is often overlooked that Corralejo still uses 100% agave–some might just not be of the Weber type or haven’t been grown in the designated area–while the typical mixto replaces up to 49% of agave with sugar!
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