Tequila is a much - malign spirit here in the United States . Most of us think of it as something so nasty you need to do it in a gibe with saltiness and lime so that you ’ll try out it as slight as possible , or take it mixed into an over - sweet margarita . All of that is changing .
The modernistic cocktail scene has reignited our interest in Mexico ’s most - noted booze , and more and more people are realizing what tequila enthusiasts have known for years : There are some implausibly good tequila out there . So whenCasa Noble — a tequila still with a hard-core pursual — invited us in the south of the border to see how they make theirs , well , how could we resist ?
It ’s Friday afternoon , you ’ve made it through the long workweek , and it ’s time forHappy Hour , Gizmodo ’s weekly booze column . A cocktail mover and shaker full of conception , science , and alcoholic drink . Da - NA - dana - DAna - Da - da , da - Na - Dana - DAna - da . Tequila !
Growing and Harvesting
All tequila starts with the Weber Blue Agave plant , which , contrary to popular feeling , is not a cactus . By law , for be called tequila , it must be at least 51 - percent century plant ( just as a bourbon ’s mash - poster must be at least 51 - percent corn ) , but the good hooey is 100 - percent pure century plant . Those that are n’t 100 - percentage are categorized as mixtos , and they use other wampum for zymolysis in an effort to have some smoothness while costing as little as possible to produce .
The agave plants are grown in and near the town of Tequila in the Mexican state of Jalisco . In fact , tequila can only be produce in Jalisco in rules of order for it to be called tequila ( Update : Well , actually , it can also add up from certain parts of Nayarit , Guanajuato , Michoacán and Tamaulipas ) . If it ’s made anywhere else , it must be label “ agave spirit ” instead . The plant life — that look a lot like large Ananas comosus growing on the terra firma — grow for a minimum of seven year . Casa Noble typically goes 10 - 14 days , and it ’s also one of just three USDA certified constitutional cultivator … y’know , if that ’s authoritative to you . The plant are continually stressed and routinely have their flowing still hunt ( quixotes ) cut off to prevent them from flower and dying . In reply to this stress the plant grow more sugars , thus cook a sweeter plant .
When they ’re ripe , the tequila plants are glean by a jimador ( an agave farmer ) . The harvest is still done almost exclusively by hand using a tool called a coa . It ’s essentially a longsighted wooden staff with a round leaf blade ( also hand - sharpened ) at the remainder . It is shockingly sharp and very effective .
Using the coa , the jimadores cut away all of the leaf from the piña , the sweet marrow of the plant , which really does look like a pineapple at this stop . The piñas can grow to be 150 to 250 pounds , and each jimador may reap as many as 150 to 200 plants a sidereal day . It ’s some back - break body of work .
Cooking and Juicing
As soon as potential after harvesting ( to ensure gall ) , the piñas are put into endocarp oven . Steam is piped in from the giant steam generator , and is the only hotness that is used . Mescal , on the other deal , is exposed to direct flame , which account for its Scotchy smokiness . The century plant is steam - fake in these traditional oven for 36 to 38 hour , which is basically the metre ask to change over the starchy carbohydrate into sweet sugars .
I had the chance to taste the agave after it was wangle . It was implausibly sweet and naughty , but it also had an earthiness to it . There were these insidious flavors that you taste very concentrated in tequila , and you think , “ Ah , that ’s where it gets that . ”
After the piñas cool , they ’re off to the juicer . Traditionally , this was action by a domestic ass drag on a large stone over them . Oh , to be young . Today most still utilise tumbler milling machinery , which are exceedingly effective at pull up almost all the succus . Casa Noble uses a fuck mill alternatively , which urge on the the piña with less pressure and is actually much less efficient . So why would they use it ? Because it ’s their belief that when you press the hell out of the plant it breaks the roughage within it , which release undesirable flavour . That ’s where a mass of the astringent , nail - polishy flavors in defective tequilas come from . Casa Noble ends up liquidate much more flora cloth , but they ’re a boutique cognitive operation — so , for them , it ’s worth it .
Once the juice is extracted and transferred to its vat , the solid plant matter is enthrall to the back of the building where it is earmark to slowly compost . The big money rest in long row of varying years . you’re able to really see the difference between them . The New stuff looks like a grassy , sinewy mass , with lots of fibers still visible . The older stuff wait like patently old soil with the unmated fiber still in it . Once it ’s disintegrate enough it is circularise into the farm before new agave is planted .
Fermenting and Distilling
Once the juice ( or joose … just kidding ) is extracted , it is transfer over to big fermentation tanks . Casa Noble is one of just two distiller that uses natural barm in their fermentation process , which is obtuse , but they conceive it yield a better answer . The mash is sour for three to five 24-hour interval , count on the weather . When it ’s warm , fermentation will go quicker . In the cooler calendar month , it ’ll take a little more clock time .
Around the out flange of every armoured combat vehicle is a perforate dreary hose . urine come through the hose and drip down the extinct walls of the tank to help facilitate cooling . Once the mash has fermented enough it ’s transferred over to the stills .
Casa Noble use three stainless steel slew stills with copper plates on the interior ( which impart some flavor into the resulting feel ) . After the first time though the still you are left with ordinario . intrust us when we say that that stuff is harsh . school principal and tails are cut out , as they are with ginand any other distilled alcoholic beverage . Interestingly enough , after some experimenting with earlier sight , Casa Noble realized they were cut out too many flowered aromas in their head and tails , and so they opened them up a little , just to get those back in .
https://gizmodo.com/the-ancient-art-of-perfect-gin-our-visit-to-beefeater-5995097
near all tequila distillery take the ordinario ( first discharge ) and distil it a 2d fourth dimension . Casa Noble is one of the few that distills it a third metre . Either way , what comes out is tequila blanco aka “ silver ” or “ white , ” though Casa Noble calls theirs “ crystal , ” for whatever reasonableness . It tastes , fundamentally , like what you ’re going to stop up imbibition if you buy a bottle of tequila blanco , except it ’s solid . It comes out of the still at 57 - percent alcohol by volume . Enough weewee is then append to convey it down to 40 - percent ABV for bottle .
Aging and Varieties
So , as we ’ve already established , there are two base types of tequila : The cheaper mixtos , and 100 - percent century plant . Within those , though , there are five sub - class that you need to know .
Blanco a.k.a . “ Silver”This is the un - ripened stuff . It comes out of the still , water supply is add to bring it to 40 - pct ABV , and then it ’s bottled . The end . Of all the diversity out there its flavor most close resemble the cooked agave works . It typically has a little more edge to it than the other salmagundi . Generally speaking , if you ’re make a margarita , this is the direction to go . That ’s not to say it is n’t good . It can be very good . It just has more prominent plant smell , so it can still stand out some even when swim in caustic lime juice and sugar .
Joven a.k.a . “ Gold”Gold is n’t really the gold standard here . Joven is just blanco tequila with a little ripened tequila ( see below ) added for flavor and vividness . Some even use caramel seasoning and color .
Reposado a.k.a . “ Rested”Now we ’re set out into the ripened stuff . Tequila that is aged in wooden bbl for two calendar month up to one yr is known as Reposado . Different distilleries expend different types of barrels , with everything from used bourbon barrel to wine barrels being used . Casa Noble happens to employ Modern Taransaud French White Oak barrels with a very light cleaning woman ( char # 1 ) , and it uses them in three different sizes : belittled 114 liter , medium 228 liter , and large 350 l .
Each size ages the tequila in a dissimilar mode due to the differences in surface area , but , disregarding of the size , the tequila all goes in and come out on the same Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , exactly 364 days later , the maximum limit for reposado . Barrels can only be opened by the CRT ( the Regulatory Council of Tequila ) , so there can be no shenanigans . The understanding the different sized barrel are used is so they have three flavour to toy with when they are blending . The distillers have a master copy sample they taste from , and then they blend the new gun barrel until it accomplish exactly the flavor they ’re looking for .
Tasting the reposado , it ’s much smooth than the blanco . The agave flavors are still in there , but everything has melt . There ’s much , much less of an edge to it . There are also some of the odorous , woody characteristic make for in by the barrel . There are faint notes of caramel and vanilla , and the color is a light Au . It would be wasted in a margarita , but it could emphatically be nice in a high - remainder cocktail , and it ’s certainly shine enough to sip neat .
Añejo a.k.a . “ Aged ” or “ Vintage”Añejo as the name implies , has been age for a minimum of one year ( año being Spanish for “ class ” ) and up to three year . Age does n’t gain all spirits , but holy crap it does this one right wing . Casa Noble ’s Añejo is aged for incisively two years . In that time it gets incredibly mellow and smooth . It has copious , sweet savor and even strong notes of vanilla . It ’s utterly delightful . I would n’t even put this one in a cocktail — just sip it neat . If you grow up drinking the cheap hooey , this will whole change your belief of what tequila can be . The first consequence I had it I thought , “ This is probably the best tequila I ’ve ever had , ” and it was , until …
Something Special
There ’s one more category of tequila : Extra Añejo . To give you an approximation of how fast tequila is switch , the Extra Añejo class was only just establish in 2006 . It essentially intend “ extra aged ” or “ ultra aged . ” It sit down for a lower limit of three geezerhood in oak casks and there is no upper eld limit . If done right , oh world …
A few class ago Carlos Santana ( yes , Mr. Oye Como Va himself ) approached Casa Noble . He require in , and he end up buying a portion of the company and join the board . Whatever , right ? Celebrity boozes are a dime a twelve . But hold on : this is no Ciroc . Carlos picked out a large 350 l barrel of five twelvemonth old Extra Añejo . It ’s a exceedingly limited edition — only five hundred bottles bottles are being made , sold for $ 500 each . I think , “ That ’s deucedly , doltishly expensive , ” but then I take to taste it .
Not only was it the best tequila I ’ve ever tried by a immense margin , it may have been the best spirit I ’ve ever try , period . I ’ve been lucky enough to try many old Scotches and small batch Bourbon , and I love them deeply , but this was something else only . It was so impossibly smooth . It is a rich amber color . It had all of the best flavors you get in the Añejo , but more of them and absolutely none of the harshness . And was that a note dark chocolate in there ? What black art is this ?
This was easy the better tequila I ’d ever had . But that only lasted a few second .
Casa Noble ’s co - proprietor Pepe Hermosillo then rain buckets me a small glass of something even crazy . Taken from the same original batch as Santana ’s , but aged for five geezerhood in one of the belittled 114 cubic decimetre barrelful , it was staring illusion . Santana ’s reserve was unbelievable , but this was a whole level above it . What ’s smooth than smooth ? I do n’t acknowledge what to call it , but it ’s that poppycock . In fact , it was given to me at the 57 - percentage ABV cask strength and I believe for sure that had to be a fault . It barely taste like it was 40 ! It was unquestionably the best spirit I ’ve ever had in my life .
alas — and you ’re travel to hate me for this — that one will never see the light of Clarence Day . The bbl it come from is so modest that they wo n’t sell it or distribute it . “ This is just for us and our friend , ” Hermosillo told me . I almost wish I did n’t know about it , because I ’ll probably never have it again . On second thought , sleep together that , I ’ll just have my lingua bronzed .
Final Thoughts
Going to high schooltime in California , tequila was the first affair I ever got intoxicated off of — my “ mother ’s milk ” of liquor , if you will . Like most Americans , my friends and I had no concept of “ quality tequila . ” In fact , we rate tequila on the “ Ass Scale , ” the melodic theme being that all tequila try out like ass , it ’s just a matter of how many esses you put on it . Arandas — a cheap rotgut we ’d get other the great unwashed to bribe for us — was five S , or ASSSSS tequila . A few years in , the first metre we get our hands on Patron , we were astonished . It was only ASS ! Maybe even AS !
If I could tell my 17 - twelvemonth - honest-to-goodness ego that something like Santana ’s Reserve ( or even the Casa Noble Añejo ) existed , I do n’t call back he would have believed me , and likely neither would most Americans today . honest-to-god misconceptions die hard . Just encounter yourself a way to taste it , if you’re able to , and see if your psyche does n’t convert .
Santana Single Barrel Reserve will be out in early 2014 . $ 500 a bottle is brutally expensive , but , to be fair , proceeds from its cut-rate sale go to support the Milagro Foundation “ for the aim of helping underserved and vulnerable multitude by have grants to arrangement in the areas of education , health , and the arts . ” So you ’ll be drinking for a good cause .
Really though , just score some fertile older guy at a bar and get him to grease one’s palms you a glass . It ’ll be worth it . In the interim , their Blanco , Reposado , and Añejo are all fantastical and can be purchase now without you needing to sell any important organs on the black market .
grownup thanks to Pepe Hermosillo and everybody atCasa Noblefor their clock time , hospitality , and tequila .
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