Tequila Herradura - A Tequila Veteran Changes its Look

Herradura is one of the oldest and most respected brands of Tequila out there. It has been around for 140 years and won a multitude of medals for its outstanding quality and taste. For example, in 2007 Wine Enthusiast magazine voted Tequila Herradura "Best Distillery of the Year". It was founded by Ambrosio Rosales and Aurelio Lopez in 1870 and it is believed by many, that Herradura produces the world's highest quality and most authentic Tequila.

Herradura have now changed their packaging to reflect a refined brand personality and also the cultivated taste of its customers. They achieved this by embedding images from the Herradura heritage. The horseshoe (herradura in Spanish), which gave the Tequila its name, is now more prominently and realistically displayed on the bottle. Also featured are images from the manor (hacienda in Spanish), where the Tequila is produced. Different coloured ribbons now differentiate between the Blanco, Reposado and Añeno.

Casa Herradura is based in the the small town of Amatitán, which lies in the fabled Jalisco state in the heart of Mexico's Tequila region. In keeping with its tradition Herradura only produces 100% blue agave tequila liquor, which is processed with traditional methods like cooking the agave plants in clay ovens and the fermentation with natural occurring yeasts. These methods lead to a Tequila with a rich and at the same time smooth taste.

If you want to find out more about Tequila and Tequila cocktails, then check out my blog on Tequila drinks.

Tequila Drinks - A Little History

Tequila is definitely a very unique drink, which is accompanied by a similarly unique history. This article will explore this interesting history, so you can appreciate your Tequila drinks even more from now on.

Tequila was brought about by the combination of two different cultures. The pre-Hispanic people in Mexico cultivated the agave plants and used their juices as flavouring and sweetener for drinking chocolate. They also used agave syrups to produce lightly alcoholic drinks by fermenting it. This drink was called pulque and used for celebrations, medicine and during religious ceremonies to put the priests into trance and calm victims of sacrifice. However, the native Mexican people did not know distillation. Only when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico in 1521 and ran out of their own brandy they started to distill this drink into Mezcal wine. Tequila is a special kind of Mezcal wine, which uses only one kind of agave plant (blue agave tequila weber) and is at least distilled twice. Don Pedro Sanches de Tagle is recognised as the father of Tequila drinks. He opened the first Tequila factory in 1600.

Tequila drinks became more and more popular and hence, taxes and regulations were introduced. The first officially licensed Tequila factory was founded by Jose Antonio Cuervo, and Cuervo is still the biggest Tequila manufacturer in Mexico. Tequila also became a popular good for exports, so much so that it started to threaten Spain's wine industry, which is why Charles III of Spain decided to ban it in 1785. However, this ban was lifted in 1790.

From that point on the history of Tequila drinks has been a bit of a roller coaster ride, with many ups and downs influenced by historic events. During the war of independence with Spain, its popularity went down only to be followed by an upturn when Mexico gained its independence. The US came into contact with Tequila drinks through historic events such as the war with Mexico and the Whisky shortage in the US during the civil war. The first legal exports of Tequila to the US took place in 1873. In the 1920s the American prohibition forces Americans to Mexico to buy alcohol. Tequila then experienced a real surge during World War II, when spirits from Europe were hard to come by. After a short down downturn at the end of WWII, the popularity of Tequila drinks started to rise again.

And Tequila is continuing this steady rise until today, while at the same time shedding the prejudice of cheap Tequila drinks and shots. More and more customers now request high quality Tequilas and enjoy them in a similar way others enjoy fine Whiskeys.