Posted May 22, 2006 The day started with a visit to the Casa Herradura, a tequila distillery located in the town of Amititan, which is just down the road from Tequila. Here's the group standing in front of the sign. It took us about 75 minutes to get there from our hotel and we arrived on time at 10:00 a.m. The bus wouldn't fit through this tunnel under the railroad, so we dismounted and walked and let the bus circle around to meet us after the tour. The walk was just a long block and you can see the group stringing out as they come up the road to the gate. The Casa Herradura is a Mexican hacienda and this is the map that shows where the major buildings and processes are located. This place is huge and lots of walking outside in the sun as we moved from place to place. Those pipes above carry steam or tequila in various states of production. They have their own experiment farm and these are various plants they have produced. Mary Romero gets up close to get a good shot. These are the pineapples, or piñas, that are roasted to begin the process of making tequila. The leaves are removed from the agave azul after it reaches the proper time for harvest and they make the pineapple looking balls you see on the driveway in front of Jose who appears to be taking a photo. After 24 hours of roasting and 24 hours of cooling, the piñas are removed from the ovens and moved to the crushing/juice removal process by this conveyor belt. Angel, our guide, shows us a plaque commemorating the hard work of the expert jimadores, the workers who remove the leaves and produce the piñas. These stainless stell vessles are the stills. The product is heated to boiling and the steam is allowed to cool to produce the raw product. The raw product is then re-distilled to produce the final product, which is about 180 proof, or 90% alcohol. This gentleman is charged with "proofing" the final product to be sure it has reached appropriate proof. The first and last parts of each batch are destroyed to preserve the purity of the tequila. Kimberly, Yolanda and Michelle are in the bodega de reposito, which is where the distilled product rests for various periods of time from as short as 90 days to 49 months. This is the horse-drawn grinding wheel that was used in the original distillery. The juice was dipped out with buckets and poured into vats for natural fermentation. We watched a movie about Herradura and had a chance to sample the product. Here are some of the guys admiring the clarity of the tequila in the small cups they gave us. A field of agave azul on the way into the town of Tequila. This is the product from which tequila is made. It takes eight to ten years to grow big enough to harvest. On the entry into the town of Tequila is this statue dedicated to the Jimadores, or the guys who cut the agave from which the tequila is made. This is the Zocalo of the town with the church in the background. They were having a quinceñera, or coming out celebration for a local girl's fifteen birthday. These girls are witnesses to the celebration mass. Ruben discusses the religious implications with them, while Brandon listens in. Andrew, Priscilla, Yolanda, and Michelle pose with the celebrating teenager. After a quick lunch in Tequila we headed back to town and went to the Tlaquepaque (just like it sounds) to see the shops and stuff tourists comes here for. This is the plaza with the church in the background. A special plaque for the town. It's about 8 feet across and made of bronze. DrTee compares panzas with the bronze mariachi. The buys got up a game of hackysack. Saving their money for church tomorrow, I guess. This little piece of ceramics was priced at one thousand bucks! A band of mariachis with a female singer were performing for the customers in the restaurants that surround the gazebo. Jose Villa and Juan Rodriguez are the featured students of the day. They are both seniors and International Business majors.     <<<Return to Index   To next page>>>