Beverage Dynamics

Beverage Dynamics July-August 2016

Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.

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28 Beverage Dynamics • July/August 2016 www.beveragedynamics.com UNTIL LATE IN THE 20TH CENTURY, tequila was almost always crystal clear or pale gold, with the hue coming from brief aging or allowed additives. Those tequilas, generally mixtos rather than the 100 percent blue agave so popular today, were produced in a fairly straight-forward process compared with most of the world's spirits - fermented, distilled and then bottled right away, or after a brief period rested in barrels or tanks. That's it; no concerns about sourcing, storing or managing barrels, controlling temperature and humidity in aging ware- houses or determining specific barrels for blending into aged ex- pressions. In many cases, distilleries simply dumped and bottled without much regard for consistency batch to batch, leaving a small footprint for the aged tequila market. While most of the growth of tequila has been credited to con- sumer's interest in the pure agave varieties, many have instead been drawn to the steady rise in quality evident in the spirit's aged expressions. These are the tequilas that, as the worldwide boom continues, gather attention in many countries, as well as in the U.S. The single component that differentiates good from great aged tequila is the wood used to age the spirit. The impact of the quality and previous usage of the wood cannot be overes- timated, as Dr. Bill Lumsden, head of distilling and whisky cre- ation at The Glenmorangie Company, told me last year about a different spirit. "I say to people all the different parts of the process are important, from the source of water to the choice of raw materials to a well controlled distillation. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how good your spirit is; if you don't have good quality oak, you simply can't make good whisky." The same holds true for reposado, añejo and extra añejo tequila - what separates good from great is quality oak and how it is treated. Of course, many houses "age" their blancos as well, which among other things is an increased cost, even if aged less than the two months that are allowed by the Consejo Regu- lador del Tequila (CRT). "To fill those warehouses with barrells takes time," says Her- radura master blender Ruben Aceves. "It is an investment to make a 45-day blanco, when it costs much less to have a blanco that comes directly out of the still." A RECENT PHENOMENON Commercially available aged tequilas are a fairly modern inven- tion, with the first reposado not launched until 1974, although a number of tequila houses kept aged barrels at home for their own usage. But in every case, aging decisions start with barrel se- lection. Traditionally, Mexican distillers, like many of the world's spirit makers, bought their barrels in lots from American whiskey producers who are required by law to use theirs only once in making Bourbon. In many cases, the containers were bought sight unseen. TEQUILA COMES OF AGE BY JACK ROBERTIELLO

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