The Origins of "Tequila"

Tequila is a very unique and exceptional drink like no other in the world. It is the fascinating product of two different cultures. For centuries, the pre-Hispanic peoples of Mexico used to drink the fermented juice of the Agave plant for religious and curative purposes. They did not know fermentation. It was until the Spanish came to Mexico that the fermented juice of the Agave plant was put into distillation. That is how tequila was born in the XVIII century. It is the authentic product of two cultures.

Tequila is made of one specific type of the agave plant: the Agave Tequilana Weber, blue variety. There are many different varieties of the agave plant in Mexico. But tequila is made only from the BLUE AGAVE, only one variety.

It takes eight to twelve years for a blue agave to reach full maturity. This could mean that Anejo tequila is likely to have been through 16 years to be produced. Once the plant is cut and harvested it's gone forever. You have to plant a new one again to harvest again in eight to twelve years time.

Types of Tequila

There are two basic categories of tequila: tequila and tequila 100% Agave.
TEASE ME SPIRITS only has 100% Blue Agave.

To make tequila you have to harvest the agave plants, cut the sharp leaves, and take the core or pina into ovens for cooking. Once cooked, you squeeze the juice from the plant, ferment it and then take it through distillation and then bottle it or send it for aging.

TEASE ME TEQUILA 100% Blue Agave categories are available in blanco, reposado, anejo and extra anejo. Our blanco tequila, 100% Agave tequila, goes directly from distillation filtered twice to the bottle. The Reposado type has to be kept in oak barrels for a minimum of two months to get a woody taste, according to the law. Then, the law states that the Anejo is to be kept in oak barrels for a minimum of one year and our extra anejo is kept in oak barrels over three years.

Mexico has claim the exclusive use of the word "Tequila" in the entire world, and that only alcoholic beverages made with rules of the Official Norm of Tequila, could be labeled as "Tequila".

The officially demarcated area for the production of tequila, as stipulated in the Declaration for the Protection of the Appellation of Origin Tequila (DOT), include the entire State of Jalisco, and other specific areas within other four States: Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Michoacan and Guanajuato. According to the law, only on these areas "Tequila" can be produced. Only these areas possess the right climate and soil characteristics for the development of the Agave Azul plant.

TEASE ME TEQUILA comes from Jalisco, Mexico.

100% Blue Agaves used in the production of TEASE ME SPIRITS are grown in the highlands of Jalisco, known as Los Altos. Planting, tending and harvesting the agave plant remains a manual effort, unchanged by modern technologies and stretching back hundreds of years.

Agave plants take about 7-9 years to be ready for use. At the peak of its maturity, the blue agave consolidates the maximum amount of flavorful sugars. The men who harvest it, the “jimadores”, possess generations of knowledge about the plants.

The “jimadores” cut the stems off with the “coa” knife (similar to a machete, but with the rounded point) and harvest the “heart” of the agave, which looks like the pineapple (that is why we call it “pina”, which means pineapple). An agave “pina” can weigh up to 180 pounds (normally it weighs 100 to 135 pounds). These hearts of the agave are used to produce the tequila.

The elaboration process continues with the cooking and grinding of the agave hearts. The cooking is performed in stainless steel autoclaves. The process lasts around 48 hours and during this time steam is injected to hydrolyze the sugars and make them soluble after cooking. The purpose of this stage is to convert agave nectar into sugars which are easy to ferment.

Once agaves are cooked to perfection, they are shredded in crushing mills and juices are extracted.

We use the juice from the first pressing of the baked agaves only, and then slowly ferment “mostos” a process that requires approximately 72-96 hour, to transform the sugars into alcohol. In effort to reduce costs and speed up production, many other producers use commercial yeast to jump-start fermentation. No such short cuts are practiced to make TEASE ME TEQUILA!

The fermenting product is double stilled to produce clear tequila called “Blanco”. While Blanco does not require aging, Reposado and Anejo must mature in casks before consumption. As with spirits that are aged in casks, tequila takes on the flavors of the wood, while harshness of the alcohol mellows. We age our tequila in oak barrels, previously used for whiskey production. Reposado takes 4 months to mature at minimum and Anejo 18 months while extra anejo matures over 3 years.

Our distillery follows traditional artisanal methods of tequila producing the finest taste and flavored beverage. The distillers or “cooks” carefully preserve the secrets of production in our one of a kind TEASE ME TEQUILA SPIRITS!