**** Here's part 2 of my mostly photo posts on our stay in Tequila
We'd had a wonderful first afternoon and evening in Tequila and slept well. We slept in and just enjoyed the cool A/C and of course the view from our patio.
It was a clear morning and you can see Volcán de Tequila towering over the town. We had gotten some light breakfast bars at Oxxo the previous afternoon, so we had that for breakfast. The hotel was so peaceful and we quickly noticed something. We had a room in one of the towers on the top floor. Apparently, we were the only folks staying in the tower. The evening before our elevator was at the bottom floor when we finished dinner, in the morning, the elevator was on the same floor as our room…it seemed like it hadn't moved all night. We saw folks entering their rooms in other wings of the hotel, but no lights in any rooms in our tower. I guess Tuesdays and Wednesdays are pretty quiet here in the summer?
We had a tour starting at 1pm, so we had the entire morning free. We decided to just chill.
At around 930, I started getting a bit hungry. I had noticed a pedestrian street, Augustina Ramirez, right behind the Municipal Market seemed to have a bunch of shops and stands. So we headed over.
It seemed like a lot of locals were getting breakfast and brunch here and the stand making Tortas looked really good. I got one with chorizo……man, the Birote Salados, the sourdough bread smelled fabulous. The bread traces its history back to the second French intervention. You can read more about it in this post in Breadtopia.
Anyway, this was super good.
I would get one every morning in Tequila.
And half a block away; the Missus found Her Agua Frescas heaven! She loved the Coconut Agua Fresca from here.
She would have a liter in the morning and another in the afternoon. By the following morning, the gentleman manning the stand would just start pouring it as soon as he saw us!
We made the decision to do a bit more exploring. This time, we headed down to where we had entered the town via our driver the previous afternoon, on Sixto Gorjon.
This commercial strip was full of various businesses…..
And well behaved pooches….
We decided to take a short break before heading to our tour….but first, the Missus needed another liter of Her agua fresca!
Soon it was getting close to the time of our tour at Casa Sauza. I know, you figured we'd be doing Jose Cuervo, right? Well, we were doing that the following day. Most folks know Sauza Tequila for making the not-so-good Hornitos Brand. Casa Sauza however, has several product lines, as well as several tours. I went ahead and booked the Tour Tres Generacions, which can only be done via email. This is an upgrade of the high level Causa Sauza tour that also features a private tasting and a "gourmet" (it's usually a BBQ meal for the regular tour) meal in Restaurante La Cueva de Don Cenobio, located in Quinto Sauza.
The group met in the family's estates Gift Shop.
Where one could learn a bit more of the history of Sauza Tequila.
We were taken on a quick tour of La Quinta and also briefed on the history of Sauza Tequila. It's quite beautiful here.
There's even a chapel to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Having been to the location in CDMX where Juan Diego saw the apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1531, this really stuck with us.
After a tour of the casa were boarded a trolley and headed out to the agave field.
Where we were briefed on the life cycle of Blue Weber Agave. Unlike Mezcal, only one type of agave is used to make tequila.
And then we witnessed the Jimador showing off his skill.
Don't be fooled; this is hard work. That agave ain't small and you've got to trim it perfectly. And we all had a chance to check out the Coa de Jima which is super sharp. You could easily chop your foot off if you aren't careful.
After our time in the fields we were transported to the actual distillery.
Where the Missus and I were directed to a different spot from the rest of the tour. They would be heading off to do some tastings of Sauza and Hornitos. We met a different guide who took us to see the actual distillery which is not included in the regular tour.
Which was quite impressive.
We were then given a private tasting of Sauza's top of the line Tres Generacion, led by one of the master tasters….I think they call them "Maestros"?
We got tastes of the Blanco (aged less than 2 months in steel), Reposado (aged from 2-12 months in Oak), Anejo (aged 1-3 years in Oak), and something that was new to us at the time, Cristalino which is a Anejo that is filtered in charcoal so that it loses it's smoky personality and also becomes clear…like a Blanco (more on this in my next post). At the end the Maestro asked us what we enjoyed. Strangely enough, both the Missus and I actually liked the Blanco, the unaged in steel vats, cheapest version. She asked us why and we both said that you could really make out the agave – citrusy-grassy-slighlty fruity. She smiled and nodded saying "yes, most like smoky and rich, but I am glad you like the pureness…." I guess we scored some points?
We were then transported back to Casa Sauza and the restaurant onsite, La Cueva de Don Cenobio. We were met and seated at a nice little table. We saw the group that we were with earlier, they were just finishing their meal.
Because we had our own special tour, we had a special three course meal with two choices for an soup, main, and dessert. So, we got one of each.
In keeping with the brevity of these posts; I will say, this was our favorite meal of our stay in Tequila. That blanco tortilla soup was amazing, as was the pork belly. The fish looked totally burnt; but that charring was done on purpose, it was actually smoky, crisp, with a hint of spice and sweetness.
This was a fine meal and a nice way to end the tour. The service was very professional and while the portions weren't very large, this was more than enough food for us.
La Cueva de Don Cenobio (In Casa Sauza)
Calle Luis Navarro 70
Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
It was past 5pm when we left Casa Sauza. It had been a full afternoon for us.
We spent some time strolling around Plaza Principal. It was the end of the day and folks seemed to be out and about.
We were enjoying Tequila!
What a memorable trip. It looks like you are having a blast seeing so much.
Tequila truly exceeded our expectations Dereck!
what a great tour!
We really enjoyed it Kat!