All aboard the Tequila Express!
Story and photos by Rich Grant
If you drank eight different shots of tequila a day, it would take 100 days to work your way through every variety of tequila available in the central Mexican state of Jalisco. They take tequila very seriously here.
With all these kinds of tequila to explore, one way of studying this particular fire-water is by riding the legendary Tequila Express – an excursion railroad that runs a rolling party from Guadalajara down a rusting track to the Hacienda San Jose del Refugio, near the town of Tequila.
Of course, “express” is a relative term. The train takes an hour and forty-five minutes to chug just 25 miles. But that gives you plenty of time to check out the seemingly endless fields of cultivated blue agave – the spiny, cactus-like plant from which tequila is made – along the way. And you'll also get ample time for tequila-tasting while a dozen mariachi players move from car to car bringing a bedlam of blaring brass and strumming guitars with them.
The ride begins at Guadalajara’s train station with our guide offering some basic information about Mexico’s national drink.
To be called “tequila,” we're told, the liquor must be distilled from a fermented concoction that is at least 51 percent the juice of an agave plant grown in Jalisco (although all really good tequilas are distilled from 100 percent agave juice). A sister drink, mescal, is made from agave grown outside of Jalisco and has slight variations in how it is prepared.
We learn there are four basic types of tequila: The kind we all know is tequila blanco or clear silver tequila (distilled and bottled with no aging). There's also a gold variety (also not aged, but with caramel added for coloring). Next is tequila reposado (rested), which is aged two to 11 months in oak casks. Finally, the really aged stuff, called tequila anejo, has sat for at least a year in a barrel (and can sell for as much as $400 a bottle).
The two l
atter tequilas interact with the oak, giving the tequila a pleasant dark amber color while making it much smoother and sweeter – perfect for sipping rather than mixing in drinks, much like a single malt scotch.
With the short lecture over, our guide says it’s time to try some of the juice. As the countryside rolls by and the mariachis play, five happy carloads of guests belt down lots of samples before arriving at the Hacienda San Jose del Refugio, home of the famous Herradura tequila factory.
On a tour of the grounds, craftsman cut away the spines of the agave plant to reveal a big, pineapple-like ball in the heart of the plant. The balls are cooked in huge ovens for 26 hours, after which they're crushed and juiced. The liquid is allowed to ferment naturally in the open air into a low alcohol, beer-like product called pulqu
e.
From here, the pulque is distilled twice to make it tequila. The hacienda museum preserves century-old distilling equipment with copper tubing, vats and eerie lighting that make it appear more like Frankenstein’s laboratory.
The fun continues with a Mexican extravaganza of a buffet lunch, mariachi music, colorful dancers and a charreada, a Mexican rodeo with trick roping and riding. All these traditions – so identified with Mexico -- come from Jalisco. As does sangrita, Mexico’s partner for tequila. Order an “un completo” in any bar and you'll be served two tall shot glasses, one with tequila and one with a spicy red mixture called sangrita, a non-alcoholic drink that “completes” the tequila. The idea is to take small sips from each glass. To really become a local, order a “bandera,” which adds a glass of lime juice, replicating the red, white and green of the national flag.
There are as many recipes for sangrita as there are for tequila, but most involve grapefruit, orange and lime juice, chili powder, hot sauce, jalapeno or tomato juice. Mexicans believe that sangrita’s combination of tart juice and fiery chili wards off hangovers.
The train departs at 6 p.m. with, yes, more tequila tasting, mariachis and madness for another two hours. After arriving at the Guadalajara station, the survivors jump into cabs – no one drives home or back to their hotels from the Tequila Express.
More info: www.tequilaexpress.com.mx.