Planting
The life of Blue Agave begins by planting year-old "hijuelos" (offshoots of Agave Tequilana Weber), which have been obtained from mature Agave plants. Eight to twelve years later, these hijuelos become a full grown Agave plant. A "Quiote" will grow from the center of the Agave Plant, this serves as an indicator that the Agave plan is just months away from being ready to be harvested.The Mexican Government has established the "General Declaration of Protection of Denomiation of Origin Tequila". Based on this declaration, the areas where Tequila can be planted/produced is limited to the original area covered by the State of Jalisco, the municipalities of Abasolo, Manuel Folding Cuerámaro City, Huanímaro, Penjamo and Purisima del Rincon, Guanajuato State, the municipalities of Brisena of Matamoros, Chavinda, Chilchota Churintzio, Cotija, Ecuandureo Jacona, Jiquilpan Maravatio New Parangaricutiro Numarán, Pajacuarán, Peribán, Piety, Regulus, Los Reyes, Sahuayo Tancítaro, Tangamandapio, Tangancícuero, Tanhuato, Tocumbo, Venustiano Carranza, Villamar, Vistahermosa Yurécuero, Zináparo Zamora, Michoacan State, the Municipalities of Ahuacatlán, Amatlan Canas, Ixtlan, Jala, Jalisco, San Pedro Lagunillas, Santa María del Oro and Tepic, Nayarit State, and Municipalities of Aldama Altamira Antiguo Morelos, Gomez Farias, Gonzalez Llera, Mante, Nuevo Morelos, Ocampo, Tula, Tamaulipas State Xicoténcatl. Visit the "Tequila Regulatory Council" website for complete details on all regulatory matters related to Tequila. http://www.crt.org.mx/index.php
Harvest
Blue Agave harvesting is done when the "Jimador" (farmer who harvests agave plants) uses the "Coa" to cut the leaves of the plant and removes the pineapple (Agave Heart) from its root. The pineapple can weigh up to 300 pounds, and can produce around 14 liters of 100 percent pure agave tequila. The term "Jimador" means "To Harvest", it comes from the "Nahuatl", a group of related languages and dialects of the Nahuan, traditionally called "Aztecan". A full-grown agave heart can reach a weigh of up to 280 pounds.
Baking
Agave hearts are cut in half in the factory, then loaded into the ovens for baking. The large stone ovens can accommodate up to 50 tons of the agave hearts. The reason to bake the agave hearts, is to convert the complex carbohydrates into simple sugars . In addition, the baking process softens the fibers, which aids in the extraction of sugars for the fermentation process.
The stone ovens use for baking the agave hearts have a continuous temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit. The agave is baked for 26 hours, the oven is then opened, and the agave is cooled down for 24 hours.
Once the agave has cooled down, the cooked agave is removed from the ovens and it is smashed until the juice is squeezed out and separated from the “gabazo” (agave pineapple fiber).
Nowdays, the use of large staineless-steel autoclaves is replacing the old stone ovens in some destilleries, this in order to reduce the baking time by almost half the time.
Fermentation
The juice that is extracted from the pineapple of the blue agave is fermented for three to four days. During this time, micro-organisms eat the sugars from the juice and produce alcohol, hence this is a 100 percent natural process of fermentation. After the process of fermentation, the juice will contain about 7 percent alcohol per volume. The juice that has been fermented is known as "mosto muerto". In the old days, fermentation was done in wooden containers, again, new technology has replaced these wooden containers with stainless steel vats. In these same vats, water, yeast, and some nutrients are mixed with the agave juices.
Distillation
Distillation refers to the physical process of separating mixtures based in their Volatility. The history of distillation goes back to the first century when the Greeks utilized distillation to obtain perfumes from a mixture of water and flowers. The Egyptians later perfected the process of distillation. The distillation of agave juice begins after the agave juice has reached 7 percent alcohol level per volume (thanks to the process of fermentation), it is then sent through pipes to the "alambiques" (stills) which are filled with the juice. Once full, the containers are closed and heated slowly with steam. Eventually, the juice will start to boil until it reaches 190 degrees Fahrenheit. The heated juices will eventually be converted into steam and will begin to climb up the neck "cuello de cisne" of the alambiques until it reaches the "cool water condenser". The cool water condenser will convert the juice steam back into liquid form. After this first distillation process, the liquid obtained is called "Ordinario" (ordinary), which contains about 25 percent alcohol, this cannot be called Tequila yet. To be considered Tequila, the distilled juice must reach at least 35 percent alcohol per volume. It is not until the second distillation process that Tequila Blanco is produced; this will contain 35 to 46 percent alcohol per volume.
Aging
Once "Blanco Tequila" is obtained through the process of fermentation, it is then aged in white oak wooden barrels or vats. The amount of time that the Blanco Tequila is aged will depend upon the type of Tequila that will be produced. To obtained Tequila "Reposado", the Blanco Tequila is aged for at least two months. For Tequila Añejo, an aging process of two or more years is required. And for Tequila "Extra Añejo", three years of aging are needed.