"Allow me to translate...Welcome to Casa Herradura The Best Tequila in the World"
Several years ago I was invited to a special tequila tasting at a local Mexican restaurant. What I didn't know is the attendees were all owners of Mexican restaurants and the guest speaker was Ruben, the Director of International Development for Casa Herradura. I had been invited because my liquor rep knew how much I loved this tequila. During the tasting, Ruben began asking questions about tequila and its process from plant to bottle...I answered every question. He then began asking questions about Herradura in particular...again, I answered all his questions. At the end of the tasting Ruben approached me and asked why I knew so much about tequila, especially his tequila, afterall, I was just a bartender at a local steakhouse. I had previously run a Mexican restaurant and had fallen in love with this particular tequila. Ruben was so impressed he extended an invitation to come to Amatitan and see the operation first hand. How fortunate I was that we were in the process of taking a family trip to see where our family had come from which is the neighboring state of Guanajuato.
Casa Herradura's story begun in 1870, when Felix Lopez officially registered San Jose del Refugio as a tequila-producing hacienda. This is the only 100% hacienda-made tequila in the world. Only five Mexican states can produce tequila: Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. The aging requirements are split into four categories:
1) Blanco/Silver/Plata: aged less than 2 months
2) Reposado "Rested": aged a minimum of 2 months, but not more than 11 months.
3) Anejo "Aged": aged a minimum of 1 year, but less than 3 years
4) Muy Anejo or Extra Anejo: aged a minimum of 3 years...typically tequilas are not aged more than 5 years.
*Weber Blue Agave, the only kind used by Herradura
*The armored doorway to the Hacienda...not pictured is the several heavily armed guards
*The families living on the Hacienda have been there for generations.
*The Jimador cleaning the agave and preparing it for the ovens
*Yours truly standing amongst the cleaned agave "pinas" ready to be heated in the massive ovens behind me
*Freshly cooked "pinas"
*Fresh cooked agave tastes very much like sweet pumpkin
*Agave is pressed and shredded
*Agave nectar in it's purist form
*Time for distillation
*Finally the aging begins
*As part of their heritage, the old distillery is set up as a museum
*Thanks to Ruben we ended our red carpet tour with a private tasting of every Herradura product
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Salud!
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