We left Tepic and headed down the Libre (free) highway towards Tequila. We had checked with a local distillery about camping there. The distillery is listed on iOverlander and Jose charges $400 pesos per person on the first night, which includes a tour of the fields, the distillery, and a tasting. Each additional night is $150 pesos per person, and we ended up staying 3 nights at this lovely place.
His agave farm and distillery is 4 generations old and they have been producing tequila for 110 years. They are an organic farm and use animals to graze the fields to keep the grass and weeks down around the agave plants. Kathy, of course, loved the horse that was “working” in the field.
Jose explained the tequila processing. It takes 9 years to grow a blue agave plant to the ideal ripeness. As they grow, they produce offspring via the root system and when those are 2 years old, they are extracted and moved to one of his rotating fields. He rotates crops as well and after harvesting, the soil is churned and corn is planted the first year, then beans the second year before a new crop of agave is planted. So one crop of agave is 11-12 years in the making. Jose has 600 acres of agave fields. He showed us a recently harvested portion, of which 80-100 agave pineapples were harvested for the 8000kg needed for the steam chamber. He said it takes a good harvester about 60 seconds to cut and harvest an agave. He showed us one example with the middle portion gone (eaten by his horse, as they like the sweet centers as well).
The harvested pineapples are transported to the distillery where they are split in half and stacked in a large industrial steam chamber. The chamber is sealed and the steam generator is turned on and steam is blown through the chamber over a 24 hour period to cure the pineapples which cooks the starches and transforms them to the sugars of which the agave nectar is extracted. Following the cook, the chamber is cooled and after 24 additional hours, the liquid in the chamber is collected in a vat. Jose let some of the juice out so we could smell the sweet smell. It is collected in a vat and them pumped to a holding chamber.
The steam chamber is opened and the cooked pineapples are removed for further processing. They are put into a shredder that rotates 6000rpm and pulverizes the solids into smaller fibers. There are juices from this process as well and they are collected and put into the vat. The pulverized pulp is then added to a conveyor, rinsed with water to extract more of the sugars, and then run through a press where the pulp is squeezed and all the liquids are collected.
Finally, the liquid is mixed with special yeasts and added to three large vats where they are set up to ferment for several weeks. Some of the processors heat their vats and add additional sugar, which speeds up the fermentation to under a day. Jose uses a more traditional method. Once the vats are “cooked”, they liquid is drained off, put in a holding chamber, and then distilled over several days a total of two times in order to produce tequila. Jose makes pure tequila, using only agave nectar with no added sugars. You can drink the doubly distilled product right from the still (and he will provide samples if we were there during this process). This process is Blanco tequila. There are four other types based on aging.
Jose explained the Reposido he makes as being aged for 6 months in Canadian oak barrels, which by the way have a 15 year life span. Anejo is aged 18 months in French barrels, Extra Anejo is aged 3 years, and Extra Anejo is aged 7 years. He has some Grand Reserve that is aged 10 years. We got to sample them all. Reposido and Anejo are much smoother than the blanco, but by the time we got to the Grand Reserve, we could taste the barrels and the aging process with very complex flavors. Jose explained that the barrels must be returned to the factory, taken apart, reprocessed, and then certified after each batch. We had a really nice time with Jose at his distillery.
And we met some really cool fellow travelers. The first guy was Ian, who is from Toronto and was stuck at the camp for a couple of weeks while he was waiting on a fuel tank repair (the second one). His pup, Mia, is a cool camp buddy and even rides on the back of his motorcycle with googles when they are out and about exploring. We had three great nights exchanging stories and drinking good tequila around Ian’s propane camp fire.
We also met Guy and Efran, a couple who bought a truck and truck camper in Oregon to do this trip (wanderingripples2025 on Istagram). They are from Israel and will be traveling probably through September 2026 when they may take a break to get back so they can vote in the upcoming elections. They came down Baja California much the same as we did and have throughly enjoyed their camper. (Its a big one).
The grounds were fantastic at Jose’s place and I was able to take some time on the two afternoons to get my computer set up and the first part of an app I am building to function properly. So far it is working great on my iPhone, a iPhone simulator, and an Android simulator. I am trying to learn the fluterflow process as well as all of the plugins associated. Fortunately I have enlisted an AI tool to assist and it helps me when I get stuck. More on that later. Kathy and I took a walk into town to get some celery (apio), carrots (zanahorias), and cucumber (pepino). The little stores did not appear to have celery and carrots, but when we asked, she went to the back and produced two stalks of celery and two carrots. All for 15 pesos.
We settled our bill with Jose, three nights camping, Tequila tour, two wash loads, and one bottle of Blanco for $2100 pesos ($120). Not bad. We headed into to the main town to get a sticker and see some sights. it took a bit to find a sticker, and in the process we saw some local pole dancers, several tequila tour vehicles, some churches, and a beautiful plaza area in the center of town. Mexico is a really neat country to tour. Its beautiful, the people are kind and generous, and we enjoy the challenges of adapting into new places.
Here is a video of the pole dancers, and here is a link to our photo album. We are headed to Guadalajara for a few days.