Honest Tequila, Done Right
Forget the fancy ads and marketing hype – real tequila is all about the spirit of Jalisco. Harvested from the land, shaped by tradition, and perfected through generations of craft. That’s how we do it at Socorro Tequila. We slow-cook the best agave in brick ovens, distill it twice to get to the heart of the spirit, age it in new American oak barrels, and give it a little air for some sweetness and balance. No additives, no cutting corners. Just honest tequila, made the way it should be.
The Ritual Begins
At Socorro Tequila, the agave harvest isn’t just a job; it’s a deeply personal ritual. With weathered hands and expert eyes, we meticulously select only the most mature agave plants, those that have reached their peak sweetness. We are there with the team, ensuring each leaf, or ‘penca,’ is precisely trimmed with a sharp ‘coa,’ revealing the precious heart, the ‘piña.’ Pablo’s passion shines through every careful cut, every piña loaded, a testament to our unwavering commitment to quality from the soil of Jalisco.
COOKING ¡Honor al horno!
We carefully halve our piñas and evenly cook them the old way, slow and steady in traditional steam-injected brick ovens called Hornos for 48 hours. After 24 hours, steamed at 95 degrees celsius in the oven, we let our agaves “sweat” out the bitter sugars. We then round them out with another 24 hours of steam. It’s a slow process, but that’s the way tequila’s meant to be made. No hi-tech autoclaves, no shortcuts.
Releasing the Sweet Essence
After the agaves have carefully cooked, softened and fragrant with sugars, they are fed onto our roller mills. The heavy, corrugated cylinders of the rollers grip and turn the plant material. This forceful compression ruptures the cooked fibers, releasing the precious, sugary juice, known as mosto. The earthy-sweet juice is collected and channeled away for fermentation, while the now-depleted agave fibers, called bagazo, are released from the other side, a testament to the thorough extraction of the plant’s sweet essence.
Taking Our Sweet Time
When it comes to fermenting, we take our sweet time. This is an important step in bringing out the flavors in our tequila. We mix pure agave juice and natural well water with our proprietary yeast and let it do its thing for a full 96 hours. No rushing it, just letting those little microbes work their magic.
The Heart of the Juice
We use a slow, traditional double distillation method that allows us to capture the complex aromas and flavors that develop during fermentation. The first distillation produces a cloudy, low-proof spirit called ordinario. In the second distillation, we carefully separate the heads and tails to get to the purest part of the tequila, the heart. What remains is clean, smooth tequila with nothing added and nothing compromised. No additives, no cutting corners.
Time and Char
We let the juice do its thing in new American oak barrels that are just lightly charred. This keeps the agave notes front and center while adding some flavorful complexity. Our Reposado rests for about 4 months, and the Añejo rest for up to 14 months. This lengthy process adds a lot of character, complexity, and flavor while the new American oak allows the agave profile to stay forward instead of being predisposed to ex-bourbon barrels. That’s how we bring out the best in every bottle. No quick fixes here. Just time, a little char, and a whole lot of tradition.
The Final Touches
Before we bottle our tequila, we let it breathe. This step is important because it does two main things: first, it helps open up the aromas and flavors we love in our tequila, and second, it helps soften the alcohol without loosing its strengths. Once we achieve our desired clarity and smoothness, the filtered tequila is carefully bottled and sealed and ready to be poured and shared with friends.
