Distillers Notes
Miles writes:
This is a fragrant, true to the source, clean tequila. From all of the world’s distilled spirit classes, Tequila is by far one of the most challenging. We combined the traditional methods of a classic tequila distillery in the Arandas area with our proprietary Charbay distilling methods that have developed for 13 generations. The mutual trust, respect and camaraderie with our host distillers will last a lifetime. This has been a real learning experience.
Marko writes:
During the final distillation at 142 Proof, our Tequila tasted as if you were chewing on fresh chamomile buds. Later, at 140 Proof, it started to taste like cinnamon. At 138 Proof, the flavors were of herbaceous, rich agave, with a pepper spice finish. We captured all these flavors. Our distilling trips to Arandas during the last three years have been packed full of learning and sharing production & distilling techniques unique to tequila. With an international spotlight on this release, we know we are up against the world's benchmarks. We nailed the super refinement of Tequila. That was our distilling goal along with accenting the true agave flavors.
To learn more about Charbay Tequila and all the steps involved, Miles & Marko have gathered the following facts for you.
To be authentic Agave Tequila, it must be distilled and bottled in Mexico, as mandated by the International Appellation of Origin and the Mexican Government.
The Blue Agave in Charbay Tequila is estate grown at the altitude of +7,120 in the superior, intensely red volcanic soils (Las Teirras Rojas de Los Altos de Jalisco) in the foothills of St. Augustine Mountain. They are cared for by experienced Agaveros for eight years until ready to harvest. The agave were hand selected and harvested while Miles & Marko were on site. The agave/pinas are then transported to the distillery. The pinas are halved or quartered by hand and stacked into the old brick ovens (small ovens—not large steel autoclaves). The agave is baked slowly for four days, then crushed to extract the sweet agave juice (“Mosto”) for fermentation.
Fermentation: A selected fraction of freshly made “Mosto” is pumped into small wood fermenters to slowly ferment. Once the “Mosto” ferments into dry “Mosto Muerte” it is ready to be distilled.
Distillation: Double distilled by Miles and Marko in small (90-250 gallon) Copper Alambiques Tequilano Pot Stills.
Filtration: Barely filtered to preserve mouth feel, texture and viscosity of blue agave.
· This is the first 100% Blue Agave Tequila hand-distilled by California distillers. Charbay combines traditional Tequila distilling methods with their European proprietary techniques of double-distilling. It's a rare story of camaraderie amongst fellow distillers. Sharing techniques and both teams learning & growing.