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So off to Cuervo Mundo! The most magical tour of all time, filled with the education of the art of producing and consuming tequila.








[The feeble culture of Cinco de Mayo debauchery in the United States does not impart any knowledge of the craft, except for, perhaps, the experience of waking up soaked in someone else's urine. Cinco de Mayo is any normal day here. People don't go to work or school, but the day has not become a Corona Holiday.]

So, quickly:





-Tequila came to exist when the European knowledge of yeast fermentation and distillation met with the agave wine that the natives had been drinking for centuries.
-The agave requires about 7 years to mature for harvest.
-Approximately 6kg of agave yields 1L of tequila.
-The agave is first cut down to its core (the pineapple)
-It is then burned to enhance the production of the sugars used in fermentation.
-Following fermentation, the product is distilled twice to enhance its purity. At this point it contains approximately 55% alcohol. At this point it is 'consumable.'
-The tequila at this point is clear. It can be watered down to ~45% and sold, or it may be aged.
-Different aging processes (container, time) change the qualities of the beverage. In general, the longer the aging process, the smoother the tequila, but the flavor and spiciness changes as well.
-The general tequila used for mixing was produced by sugars which 51% originate from the agave. Who knows where the remaining sugars come from.
-100% agave tequila should never be mixed. If you have friends that insist on doing so, please remove them from your address book.
-The name tequila can only be applied to the beverage if it is cultivated in a limited number of areas, all centered around the state of Jalisco.
-Finally, for an extremely nice bottle of tequila, you could spend well over $100. Or you can go down the road to where you buy it in jugs and get 5L for about $20.






Well, back in Monterrey. Back to working on the canopy tour tomorrow...