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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10864738

Bar/fly: Drinking tequila in Tequila

By Tracie Cone

Tuesday Feb 12, 2013

Tracie Cone learns respect for tequila in its home town.

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Photo / Rod Emmerson

It is said the national drink of Mexico has magical properties: it closes contracts and opens doors, makes shy people bold and helps form friendships.

The first thing one learns on a tour of Mexico's tequila country is that no one here drinks tequila as a shooter - it's better sipped from a brandy snifter or champagne glass so that the full sweet, buttery flavours and aromas of the agave can come through.

An aficionado would never drink anything other than a tequila made from 100 per cent agave. Anything less, like the popular Jose Cuervo Gold, is a "mixto" that by law only has to contain 51 per cent of alcohol distilled from agave. The rest could be any other sugary plant.

The affair margarita-lovers are having with premium tequila has fuelled a tourist boom in the mountainous state of Jalisco, where tequila was born centuries ago in the town that shares its name. In Tequila, the hotels in this once-sleepy village are being remodelled and the main drag has been cobblestoned.

Slick convenience stores are opening, a concession to tourists who lack the adventure or language skills to navigate the quaint marketplaces and lively street food stands around the historic stone cathedral.

Tequilas from the less touristy "highlands" near the towns of Arandas and Atontonilco, about 105km east of Guadalajara, are generally light and sweet. El Tesoro, Don Julio, Don Pilar and the highly regarded 7 Leguas are from the region, as well as market leader Patron. However, travel to these slightly out-of-the-way spots is now considered risky without a guide because of violence from drug traffickers. But here, in the safe Valle de Tequila, a favourite stop is Don Javier's cantina, La Capilla, home of his 50-year-old invention, the Batanga, a mixture of Coke, tequila, lime juice and salt.

Though there are hundreds of varieties of the agave lily that can be distilled, to be called tequila it must be made from Weber blue agave. The spiny plants grow for between six and 12 years in neat rows on hillsides, the valley floor, and even in medians along the highways.

Tours of the biggest distilleries, such as Sauza and Cuervo are easy to find. Mundo Cuervo is the Disney of distilleries, with swank cantinas and gift shops. A self-guided walking tour through town is part of the Ruta de Tequila, a trail that links Jalisco's tequila-producing cities. Also appealing to some is the Tequila Express party train that on weekends ferries tourists from Guadalajara 64km to Casa Herradura, where visitors sip tequila from a barrel carried by a donkey.

The smaller operations often produce the most interesting spirits, offering historical glimpses of the manufacturing process that the big labels long ago abandoned. Tequila explorers can see and taste agave that has baked in modern autoclaves (giant pressure cookers) for eight hours and compare flavours to those of a distillery that still bakes for days inside stone ovens.

The luckiest tourists arrive with Clayton Szczech of Experience Tequila. He's an American who loves the culture and history so much he is certified by Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council, meaning he is adept at discerning flavours.

Szczech took us to an obscure, one-man operation where the tequilero used a garden hose to fill our litre bottle from his lone ageing barrel.

"True tequila and a tequila culture thrive down here," says Szczech. "You've just got to know where to look."

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Tequila Express: Train from Guadalajara to Casa Herradura in Amatitan. The village of Tequila is 75km from Guadalajara.

Tours: experiencetequila.com; tequilasource.com. National Museum of Tequila: Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm.

Accommodation: Hotel Casa Dulce Maria and Los Abolengos.

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