CRAFT TEQUILA
extracts the sugars . “ Because of the soft extraction , the tahona produces a distillate with a creamy texture on the palate ,” says Maxwell .
Casa Noble cooks agaves with steam for 38 hours . “ Which gives us beautiful , sweet-cooked agave with some ‘ smoky ’ notes ,” says Hermosillo . “ Then we will do something no one else does — we squeeze the agave with a proprietary system , eliminating any bitter notes that are created by the traditional method of crushing the agave .”
“ Our methods vary depending on the expression we ’ re producing , because we seek a lot of different flavor profiles ,” says Duffin . For Siembra Valles Ancestral , agaves are roasted five days in underground pits ; for other expressions , like Siembra Azul Blanco or Siembra Valles Reposado , agaves are steamed in clay-lined brick ovens .
For crushing the pinas , roller mills are often used . Siembra Valles High Proof is tahona-crushed . And for Siembra Valles Ancestral , the pinas are crushed by hand with wooden mallets . “ Siembra Valles Ancestral is the only hand-macerated tequila made in the past 300 years , which is part of the reason it doesn ’ t taste like any other tequila ,” states Duffin .
Fermenting and Distilling While commercial facilities often ferment in stainless steel tanks with cultivated yeasts and distill in column stills , craft producers use more archaic methods .
Corazon ferments in small lots in open pine or stainless vats to let the natural yeast interact with the mosto . Distillation takes place in copper or stainless pot stills , says master distiller Rocio Rodriguez .
Suerte ferments for 72 hours , then double-distills , first with a stainless pot still , finishing in a smaller copper-lined pot still . “ We pride ourselves that our stills are inefficient ,” notes co-founder Laurence Spiewak . “ And our master distiller cuts quite a bit off the heads and tails , going for the pure corazon , the heart .”
Fortaleza ferments for three or more days in open-top , wood tanks . “ Wood fermenters are a pain in the butt to maintain , but provide a buttery / vanilla aromatic / flavor to our tequila ,” says Maxwell . Distillation is in small copper pots , finishing with a lower ABV than usual . “ The lower ABV you distill , the more of the original agave sugar source is retained .”
Tequila Ocho uses an indigenous yeast sourced originally from an agave plant . “ The key to best quality for fermentation and distillation is ‘ slow ’, as in the Slow Food movement philosophy ,” says Estes .
Pine fermenters are used because , among other benefits , they impart additional flavors from the yeast living inside the wood ’ s pores . The fermentation is open-air , with natural airborne yeast . Distillation is low and slow , first in a medium-sized stainless steel pot still with a copper coil , then finished in a 350-liter all-copper still .
Casa Noble is distilled in small batches , 900 liters at a time , all in pot stills . “ We triple-distill the tequila [ All tequila must be distilled at least twice ], which gives us an opportunity to do it slowly and carefully to get the best tequila and show off the heart of the spirit ,” says Hermosillo .
All Siembra Valles tequilas are fermented with bagasse , the crushed agave fibers . “ The bagasse makes the tequila taste more of agave ,” says Duffin . Distillation depends on the expression . For most , the first distillation is in stainless steel with a copper coil , and the second is all copper . For Ancestral , they distill in copper first and then in Filipino stills made of Oyamel and pine woods . “ The Filipino stills have not been used with tequila for around 300 years , but with Siembra Valles Ancestral , we sought the historical flavors lost to tequila ’ s industrialization .”
Resting and Barrel Aging Blanco tequila is often aged for a few months in stainless steel before release . Reposado , anejo and extra anejo tequilas are woodaged , often in used-bourbon barrels . But there are exceptions .
“ We don ’ t use old bourbon barrels like a lot of other producers ,” says Duffin . Siembra has commissioned barrels built with American oak from Missouri . “ So our aging program definitely takes a different shape , in that only tequila has ever touched those barrels , and only our tequila , at that .” Siembra Valles High Proof is an unaged blanco , which rests in glass demijohns for 11 months before bottling — a practice normally reserved for mezcal .
Casa Noble Tequila ages in new French oak barrels , which adds depth and complexity .
Corazon offers a special-barrel selection to retailers and consumers , who can have tequila aged in barrels that once held bourbons made at Buffalo Trace and Barton 1792 distilleries . Depending on the barrel type and the master distiller ’ s guidance , the Single Barrel Corazón Reposado is aged from six to eleven months , and the Single Barrel Corazón Añejo is from 12 to 24 months .
Bottling Given the relatively small production , many craft producers bottle by hand . And sometimes the bottles themselves are hand-crafted .
Single-barrel selection Corazón is hand-bottled with a premium neck hanger that features the barrel purchaser ’ s own logo , along with the specific details of the barrel .
“ There was a point in time when all of our bottles were handblown , but our three different producers are not able to keep up with demand , so we have bottles that are semi-hand-blown and use both types of bottles ,” says Maxwell . All of Fortaleza ’ s bottles are filled and labeled by hand .
Calavera Tequila ’ s bottles are uniquely shaped and hand-painted . As the name implies , the bottles represent Day of the Dead skulls , which can stand out on retail shelves and back bars . The idea was
16 Beverage Dynamics • July / August 2019 www . beveragedynamics . com