**** Here's part 3 of my mostly photo posts on our stay in Tequila
We started our last full day in Tequila, with a birote as I noted in my previous post. We wandered around a bit before heading to a tour and tasting I scheduled. We were in Tequila and it would be almost sacrilegious to not visit the oldest Tequila distillery, right? And to make things more entertaining for the Missus, I decided to do the chocolate and tequila tasting as well.
This would take place at Jose Cuervo's Fabrica la Rojena distillery. I mentioned that Jose Antonio Cuervo was the first person granted permission to produce Tequila for sale in an earlier post. Fabrica la Rojena, the distillery was established in 1812, making it the oldest active distillery in Latin America.
Finding the place was easy…..it's located on, you guessed it, Calle Jose Cuervo. The view up that street is quite lovely.
We met in front of the Mundo Cuervo Hall, where that giant crow statue stands and were soon guided on a tour of the place.
Making it to the back of the distillery where we got to see the "pina", the heart of the agave plants being delivered and prepped.
Like the previous day, it was getting pretty darn warm….this is hard work.
I had worried that doing tequila distillery tours two days in a row might lead to a lot of overlap; but to our extreme pleasure, what we learned here actually added to what we had learned the previous day. We got to be much more close up to things as well.
And there were actual displays along the way as well. I didn't know that American Oak barrels were used for Reposado and Anejo aging.
After the tour, the Missus and I met up with the nice young man who guided us thru our tasting which the Missus truly enjoyed.
What I most enjoyed was chatting with him about his life; he was born in Glendale and his family moved back to Jalisco and Tequila when he was 10 years old. Can you imagine how being seprated from your friends at that age must be? And he was more comfortable speaking English at that time. He also liked that we enjoyed the varied tastes of Blanco. And then we asked him about the new Cristalino Tequila; where Anejo is passed thru a filtering process, making it clear, and taking it back to almost being a Blanco….but charging a person even more than a Anejo? He laughed and said it's kind of a hipster thing right now…..'nuff said.
We enjoyed our tour and tasting at La Rojena.
When we were done; it was…well time for lunch. We just wanted something simple and hearty. And yes, we were in Jalisco; so Birria de Chivo was high on our list. And there was a place named Fonda Chivo y Vaca close by!
Turns out it was a three story restaurant with views of the street. We were seated on the ground floor.
Of course we got some Birria de Chivo and also Carne en su Jugo.
The Carne en su Jugo had a very upfront acidity, which was interesting…..the beans were so earthy and perfectly cooked.
The Birria de Chivo was slightly gamy; nice smokey flavors, a bit of spice.
The meat was on the chewier side. Definitely not like Birriería Las 9 Esquinas, but miles ahead of what we have here in San Diego.
Fonda Chivo y Vaca
Jesús Rodríguez de Hijar 17
Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
On this day, we actually managed a nice siesta……..
And then we woke and took a nice stroll. On an interesting note, we saw the really nice young man who did our chocolate pairing at La Rojena in the lobby of the hotel talking to the staff. Apparently, Jose Cuervo owns Hotel Solar de las Animas!
As the evening rolled around we took a nice stroll. This was a Thursday and the hotel was getting busier. As we strolled around Plaza Principal we could see the families doing there "evening thing".
We looked for a spot to have a seat and just take in the evening, but it was busy. It was then we saw a couple waving to us, they moved over on a bench and beckoned us over so we could enjoy the sights and sounds. These are the moments that make travel so special!
When dinner time came around; we just decided to head back to the hotel. On our first evening in the town, we enjoyed having a drink at the Sky Bar at our hotel. We also noticed that they had an abbreviated menu of La Antigua Casona, the very popular restaurant in the hotel. So, we just decided to have our last dinner there.
With a nice view of the town.
The Aguachile Negro and Jicama was just as good as what we'd had in the restaurant.
The Ceviche less so; but overall this was a nice, light meal.
Sky Bar (in Hotel Solar de las Animas)
Calle Albino Rojas #14
46400 Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico
And of course, our room with the amazing view was just a minute away.
The next morning, we woke a bit earlier than usual and took a stroll around town before our ride to the airport.
We were indeed taken be the art, the colors…..the Tequila…..but there was more that made our stay wonderful.
It was the warm people….and the pooches…..
That had us contemplating as I got that Birote yet again…..
That we'd return once again, in the middle of the week to enjoy Tequila…both the town and the drink!
Well, this was a miss in my book. The "dumplings" seemed like fried frozen chicken gyoza you'd get at the market. Cardboardish wrappers, salty – chewy filling.
To me; the best part of this dish was the consomme, not because it had the complex, beefy-savory tones of a good consomme; but because it at least had some decent flavor. Though, it really tasted like "San Diego sweet" pho broth with some birria and beef flavoring. Perhaps this is what the "Birria Pho" on the menu tastes like?
The broth had an abundance of cilantro and scallions which was good. It was very clear, though not seriously defatted. It did lack a definite beefiness and the anise tones I enjoy. As is typical of much of the pho in San Diego, it had that somewhat sweet background to it, in addition to being a bit too salty.
This was comprised of five pieces; two huge drumettes, and three "flats". The seasoning was quite good, some spice, perhaps a bit too much MSG, but I enjoyed it.
Not to belabor the statement; but the color is totally different! As for the dish itself? Well, the sauce/stew was super thick; way too thick, lacking in the nice smooth creaminess of kare kare. Coconut milk had been added and this was overly sweet for my taste. Think of getting a jar of peanut butter and throwing in some coconut milk…..this lacked a satisfying savoriness for me.
The soup was nice and beefy. Unlike the usual Seolleongtang, this had a perfect amount of salt…usually you need to season to your taste. The Tteokguk, the flat rice cake like Nian Gao still had a nice chew to it. 
So, here's the score using the 
STUFFS: While eating, I noticed a gluey component under the eggs. Not a fun texture and quite bland. Looking over the menu; I guess they also include sausage gravy with this? Overkill in my opinion. 1.0
Not sure about the Pico de Gallo as a side….funny, at first glance I thought it was Lomi Salmon! Four rather slices of Port Sausage; based on the texture and taste, I'm thinking this seemed like Redondo's? I'm fully "team Purity", but this was fine. Two scoops rice and two easy over eggs completed the set. The scoops of rice seemed on the smallish side; but I can't put it away like I used to, so this was fine. The rice was perfectly cooked and the eggs nice and runny.
