HOW WE CREATEOUR TEQUILA
We don’t produce tequila, we create it. Discover the eight stages of our craft.
FARMING
Espolòn Tequila is made from only hand harvested 100% blue weber agave
The first step on our journey to create an exceptional tequila happens in the agave field. There, jimadores hand-harvest 100% blue weber agave. It’s almost like agricultural artistry. Whatever you call it, that’s the secret to exquisite tequila.
COOKING
We don’t cut corners on flavor. We steam cook our piñas in custom built autoclaves.
Tradition can set limits or inspire innovation. For Cirilo, it was the latter. Respecting traditional cooking techniques while leveraging his engineering background, he created custom stainless-steel autoclaves to cook the piñas to ensure a delicate extraction and a balance of fresh and cooked agave character. This produces the sweet, earthy and caramelized notes that are essential to our tequila.
MILLING
We grind up our piñas and ensure that we extract every bit of sugar so the yeast doesn't go hungry.
In order to extract the remaining sugar from the fibrous agave pulp, or bagasse, the cooked piñas are pressed by passing through roller mills. After the sugar is extracted, the leftover bagasse is turned into fertilizer. Some of it is given to local farmers for future crops.
FERMENTATION
We add art to science, playing classical music for the yeast as it works.
In the entire tequila-making process, the hardest workers are the ones you can’t see – the yeast – microorganisms that turn starches into alcohol. Maestro Cirilo had such a deep and profound respect for yeast and the work they do that we play classical music for them while they work, believing it helps the yeast activate thanks to the vibrations of the music’s sound waves.
DISTILLATION
We double down on distillation, using a combination of pot & column stills to extract our agave-forward flavor profile.
Our distillation process is like a dance: it’s full of cooperation and music. We use a combination of two types of stills. There’s the more traditional pot still which produces an earthy taste, and the column still which gives a lighter, fruitier taste.
BLENDING
We identify only the finest cuts to make our Tequila.
When you really think about it, everything in life is a balancing act. Whether you’re talking about something as detailed as a chef’s creations or as grand as work/life balance, it takes effort and commitment to achieve perfection. Maestro Cirilo’s balancing act was one of extreme detail.
AGING
Human hands create our Tequila, time perfects it.
Rich, complex, and well-rounded – that’s the goal for Espolòn Tequilas, and it’s why we only age in #2 charred american oak barrels. To honor the flavor produced by this process, we add our Tequila to the barrel at lower alcohol volume. That means we have to add less water before bottling and retain more flavor.
BOTTLING
Bottled at our own distillery.
Our Tequila is distilled and bottled at our casa San Nicolás (NOM 1440), dressing each bottle of Espolòn in our distinctive labels, inspired by the artwork of José Guadalupe Posada.
