Stateways

StateWays-July/August 2016

StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions

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StateWays | www.stateways.com | July/August 2016 30 U ntil 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 specifi c 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 consumer's interest in the pure agave varieties, many have in- stead 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 overestimated, as Dr. Bill Lumsden, head of distilling and whisky creation 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 te- quila - 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 Regulador del Tequila (CRT). "To fi ll 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 fi rst 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 bar- rel selection. 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 by JACK ROBERTIELLO TEQUILA COMES OF AGE AGED TEQUILA | CATEGORY UPDATE PHOTO COURTESY OF ISTOCK, ALEJANDRO RIVERA

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