Tony Bones
Grundalier
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2004
- Messages
- 768
A co-worker/friend of mine did a neat little experiment. He bought a one gallon, charred oak barrel, enough of a quanity of three different 100% pure agave tequilas to fill it, and let it sit for a year unbothered.
HOLY COW! By far the most refined, palatable, and generally wonderful tequilas I've ever tasted. I've had a number of very good 1 and 3 yr.'s and this blew them all out of the water.
We've concluded that the smoothness of the tequila was generated by it being in contact w/ a much higher surface area of oak than your store bought stuff. Makes good sense, as this is the case w/ single barrel scotches and such.
I was so impressed w/ the quality of his product that I set out to age a barrel of my own...but in a five gallon barrel. Woah! Five gallons of 100% pure agave tequila is over $1000! Too much for me. So I decided to do a little research. I figured that tequila is a distilled product just like shine'. If I can make shine' I can make tequila.
Found (don't ask how) a little old man in Mexico w/ an agave farm and enquired as to what it would cost to purchase some agave juice. Much, much cheaper than buying the tequila is all I'll disclose. The nifty part of speaking w/ the old guy was that he told me how to make the end product. He told me EVERYTHING that I would need for success, and that it's far easier to make than whisky, as you don't have to experiment w/ mixing different percentages of the distillate from different temp. ranges. He also told me that I'll be able to make some of the most unGodly good tequila I've ever tasted, due to the exact reasons found in my barrel theory.
50 lb. pail of agave is on its way. If all goes well one or two people may be getting a tequila bomb in a year's time
HOLY COW! By far the most refined, palatable, and generally wonderful tequilas I've ever tasted. I've had a number of very good 1 and 3 yr.'s and this blew them all out of the water.
We've concluded that the smoothness of the tequila was generated by it being in contact w/ a much higher surface area of oak than your store bought stuff. Makes good sense, as this is the case w/ single barrel scotches and such.
I was so impressed w/ the quality of his product that I set out to age a barrel of my own...but in a five gallon barrel. Woah! Five gallons of 100% pure agave tequila is over $1000! Too much for me. So I decided to do a little research. I figured that tequila is a distilled product just like shine'. If I can make shine' I can make tequila.
Found (don't ask how) a little old man in Mexico w/ an agave farm and enquired as to what it would cost to purchase some agave juice. Much, much cheaper than buying the tequila is all I'll disclose. The nifty part of speaking w/ the old guy was that he told me how to make the end product. He told me EVERYTHING that I would need for success, and that it's far easier to make than whisky, as you don't have to experiment w/ mixing different percentages of the distillate from different temp. ranges. He also told me that I'll be able to make some of the most unGodly good tequila I've ever tasted, due to the exact reasons found in my barrel theory.
50 lb. pail of agave is on its way. If all goes well one or two people may be getting a tequila bomb in a year's time
