Our Process

Raw material: Agave tequilana weber blue variety.

The distillery has several ranches that belong to the Camarena family, of which to obtain the blue Agave for the production of tequila.

The complete maturation of the plant takes between 6 to 8 years.

Harvesting

It consists of removing the agave leaves (pencas) from the base of the plant (piña), once the agave has reached full maturity.This is made with a sharp tool called COA. 

Cooking

The “piñas” are transported to the distillery, cleaned, cut in halves and the bud (cogollo) is removed in “male” plants, since it can adversely affect the flavor of tequila.

After that, masonry ovens are loaded (capacity of 50 tons) for slow cooking and the first extraction of honey.

Milling

Cooked agave halves are transferred to the grinding mill, which is in charge of crush the agave and separate the liquid honey from the plant fibers & solids. Solids are recycled and reused as organic compost.

Fermentation

The juice of the agave is transferred to wood vats where open fermentation takes place. There, native wild yeast converts the sugar into alcohol (ethanol) and other chemical compounds that provide flavors and aromas. The fermentation lasts for 72 to 96 hours.

Distillation

Is the process where the alcohol is separated from the fermented wort (mosto). By law, tequila must have two distillations.

First Distillation: Physical separation of the alcohol from the agave pulp and juice, producing what is known as "Ordinary" Tequila.

Grinding: Physical separation of alcohol and water. At the end of the second distillation, the product obtained is TEQUILA.

Ageing

After distillation, tequila is placed inside American oak barrels. According to the type of tequila, it is determined the time of maturation or aging:

Blanco (Silver, Plata, Platinum) – bottled without spending time in barrel.  
Reposado - minimum 2 months, maximum 1 year in oak. 
Añejo - minimum 1 year, maximum 3 years of ageing. 
Extra Añejo - at least 3 years of ageing in oak barrels. 

Packaging and labeling

Tequila gets filtered to remove suspended particles and to get rid of any possible turbidity; at the same time, the bottles to be filled are washed with tequila of the same type they will contain, then the tequila is pumped into the filler machinery.

Once the bottles are filled, the first visual inspection is performed to identify any undesirable particles in the bottle.

After this, the stopper is placed in each bottle and the lot number is printed. Then, the filled bottles are transported to workshops or stations where a second visual review is performed and the labeling is carried out by hand.