on a first name basis with jose.

We talked about it, and really the conclusion was that you can’t be in wine country and not visit a winery. What would people say?

So here in Guadalajara, Jalisco, neighboring the city of Tequila, there was a certain obligatory ‘you-gotta-do-it’ pull to tour a distillery.

So we boarded a bus from the Central Station, and winded out of the city passing through green hills and fields of blue agave plants over to the pretty little town known for its namesake contribution to the world of spirits.

We grabbed a small bite, walked around a bit, and then caught the very last tour at ol’ Cuervo Mundo, which our guidebook told us would be already closed.

We watched the history of Jose Cuervo as it traced through generations of Don Juans to the current global endeavors of the company. We saw the agave cores, stripped of their long spikey leaves, tasted the sugary meat from the fiber of the plant, and saw the juice separated from the baked pulp. And of course we tasted the alcohol in its various manifestations along the way.

In the end we understood there are trully distinguishable tastes between the different types of tequila — white, rested, and aged. Common descriptions used are oakey, smooth, flavorful, aromatic…

I find that I distinguish the differences with the descriptions ‘burning’ and ‘less burning.’ Cheers.