Tequila Tour December 12 -13

 We had heard several of our friends talk about going to the town of Tequila with Naomi Kitamura  , so we were thrilled to finally meet her and find that she would be organizing another trip.  Luckily for us there were 4 spots left so we quickly asked John and Patsy from Sea Esta if they wanted to go with us.  Naomi organizes a couple trips a year to this unique town.  This would be a special trip because we would be in the town of Tequila for the last day of the celebration of the Virgin of Guadeloupe.   Years ago Naomi met the Silvia Sauza who is the daughter of Javiar Sousa, the third generation of Sousa tequila makers.  After visiting the family home so many times she asked if she could bring friends to share in this unique experience.  Thus many travelers would get to enjoy this wonderful experience.  

Yes, you say, I know how tequila is made and I know that there are public tours from several of the distilleries in the town.  You are right, but this tour is not open to the public, and for very little money you experience a side of the production that very few get to see.  So we signed up in October and patiently waited for Dec 12 to arrive.  When it did we met in the parking lot at 7:30 A.M. and proceeded to car pool.  We would be taking Highway 15 heading toward Guadalajara.  This is a toll road so we had several cuota (toll) stops to make.  We even stopped at one, where Naomi said it was a great place to get meat of bean tacos.  At another stop we ran into the gas station store to get something that tasted very much like peanut brittle.  It seemed like we were eating out way toward Tequila!  Best to get something on our stomachs to soak up all the tequila we would be "tasting".  It is about a 3 ½ hour to 4 hour trip but with the stops we got to the town of Tequila close to 12:30P.M.  We found the Casa Duce Maria Hotel and quickly checked into our rooms.  The hotel is at 20 Mariano Abasolo Street, Tequila, Jalisco, telephone number 01 (374) 7423200.  We had reserved a matrimonial bed or double bed for 370 pesos.  It was a beautiful hotel and even though our room was not large it was very nice.  

 In a very short time we were all back in the lobby ready to begin our tour.  After a short walk across the main plaza we arrived at the Los Abuelos museum.  Here we were greeted and shown to the main courtyard where two tables were set with dishes of fresh fruit, a lime type drink and bottles of ice cold water.  When we finished the delicious fruit it was time for the museum tour.  Our guide was Elizabeth and she spoke perfect English.  She explained how the three generations of Sauzas were very instrumental in creating what tequila is today.  The museum was created by Silvia Sauza as a loving tribute to the three generations.  We learned that in 1976 the family sold to the Jim Beam Corporation the main plant, the name and all right to the Sauza logo. Silvia Sauza still retains the main estate, “The Villa” and the original tequila factory and lands. She lives part of the time at the villa and part of the time in Guadalajara.  In 1999, Silvia’s son, Guillermo Erikson Sauza decided to again make tequila in the method of his grandfathers at the original factory.  The brand was to be called Los Abuelos, the grandfathers, and it would be made totally by hand as the first Sauza had done.  The museum is very informative in helping the tourist following the success of the family. 

The small gift store in the museum was the place for our first taste of tequila.  Los Abuelos makes Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo.  It is not cheap but it is every so smooth.  Betsy bought Hank his Christmas tequila and a couple of Christmas ornaments. Everyone’s purchases were taken over to the hotel so we could continue our walk to the villa.  As we walked through the main gates we were quickly aware that this was once a beautiful hacienda with many unusual plants and trees. We were told that 200 masons worked for two years on the property but Silvia’s mother preferred the small home inside the Sauza factory so she never lived on this property. Betsy was pleased she had the opportunity to be introduced to  Señora Silvia Sauza by Naomi.  What a thrill. 

We were greeted in the garden with a pink grapefruit margarita, two tables were set up and it could have been for a fancy wedding by the looks of the beautiful table clothes and covered chairs.  We found seats, unfortunately not at Señora Sauza’s table, but as John says, the kids table.  Señora Sauza is the lady in the orange blouse in the photo on the right and Naomi is sitting to her left.  That small building in the background is their outdoor entertainment kitchen/bar.  We had a fun time enjoying the beauty of our surroundings, having a few more margaritas and eating a delightful chicken with almond sauce lunch prepared by La Senora Elena, the Sauza family chef.  We even had the music of Nacho a classical guitarist. I say we were at the kids table for the other table was much more sedate and later we heard that they only had the one margarita!  

To walk off lunch, Naomi let the way around the rancho to climb to the El Mirador.  Now I know I was not the only one who realized that this was a steep ascent for we stopped several times to catch our breath.  But once we got to the top of the hill, the view was awesome!  You could see that the town was a lot bigger that we thought and that all the hills were alive with blue agave.

The distillery is La Fortaleza, it is the original distillery on the hacienda grounds, refurbished by the Sauza family and now the site of all Los Abuelos production.  Was there any difference than the modern production?  Well the agave crowns are in the oven for 36 hours instead of the usual 12 hours.  The cooked agave is milled or crushed in a stone pit by a large stone disk that was originally turned by a mule and is now turned by a small tractor.  The difference is that the cooked pulp is squeezed not torn and broken like modern production.  Even the large stone disk and stone pit instill some flavor into the juice.  This juice is then fermented naturally for five days in small wood vats, and then double distilled using small, labor-intensive copper pot stills.  The bottle is hand-blown in Tonalá, Jalisco and the unusual bottle tops are hand made by the workers. 

Finally after seeing how the tequila was produced we went into the caves to taste some more.  Now one of us only had samples of the Blanco and Añejo but the other  tried several samples of each.  We also had a platter of nuts, cucumbers, oranges and jicama to enjoy with the tequila.  Our guitarist from lunch was there in the cave to entertain us and the acoustics were fantastic. 

We said our goodbyes to  Señora Sauza and walked back to the center of town.  Naomi suggested that if we were interested in observing the night’s festivities we could purchase a bottle of tequila at the Los Abuelos cantina and that would reserve a table for us for the whole night.  Four of us got together, purchased a bottle of Reposado and were very pleased when we came back at 9 to find our bottle, a tub of ice, glasses, limes, peanuts, and sodas set out on the table.  We also had a great table that was right on the edge of the crowd and a perfect place for people watching.  We were able to go out to get food, bring it back, and enjoy the atmosphere of the town.  Everyone was well dressed; many of the men in new jeans, shirts and of course cowboy hats.  Most of the women were also in pants and everything looked new.   The crowd was extremely large and it sort of necked down right in front of our cantina so we got to see how patient the people were.  About 11 P.M. a man walked in that Hank thought looked familiar from the museum pictures.  We weren’t sure so we just continued to enjoy our tequila.  To our amazement the man came over to our table and asked if we were with Naomi’s tour, upon saying yes, he introduced himself as Guillermo.  Hank was correct, it was the fifth generation Sauza, and we had a delightful chat with him.  He promised to meet us in the morning to sign another bottle of tequila but unfortunately that didn’t happen.  Speaking of tequila who would have thought that 4 people could sip their way through a whole bottle of tequila but we did.  It was close to midnight and we were hungry so we left the cantina and headed out to again check out all the food booths.  I really wanted to find the churro vender that we had found in the late afternoon but they were no where to be found.  We did find a great hot dog vender who sells the dog wrapped in bacon. Finally it was time to head back to our room; the town was still loaded with people, more drinking than I have seen in a long time, but no one drunk. 

 In the morning the town was spick and span clean, chairs and tables stacked, and everything washed down, well almost there was at least one hombre who might have had a little too much fun.  It was obvious that there were many workers in the wee hours of the morning to get the town into such good shape.  We found a great place for breakfast and a wonderful Italian cappuccino.  We walked around and did a little tourist shopping and finally met up with the rest of our tour.  It was with sad thoughts that we had to leave, but with hopeful ones that we would love to return.  You can check out the Los Abuelos web site at www.LosAbuelos.com