Aging Tequila

[shaawnzee]

Howdy All,

I have read a lot but am fairly new to the hobby practice-wise. I made some store-bought tequila (much) better and was looking to throw some oak on it. Most of what I have read about aging concerns whiskey. Does anyone have any experience with charred oak sticks and tequila such as surface area, time on wood, time off wood, etc? It seems tequilas are aged for a shorter time than bourbons (1 yr for anejo, 3+ for extra anejo).

Any insight and advise would be much appreciated.

[raketemensch]

There are a million threads here about using oak sticks for aging, use the HDGoogle Search up in the top middle of the page. You want "oaking and aging the t-pee way" to start.


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[shaawnzee]

Thank you raketemensch . I have read that entire thread as well as PRs on his improved profiling. Those only addressed whiskey. I am not sure if I should start with the same or less oak and if the contact times should be adjusted.

My search didn't seem to come up with much for tequila.

I am wondering if anyone has any personal experience or insight.

[raketemensch]

Ah, I getcha. Unfortunately, tequila isn't one of the more popular things made around here, because of the lack of availability of blue agave and the cost of agave nectar. I personally would *love* to make some, but having read the thread where someone (i can't find it now) went through the process of digging/cutting up an agave plant, smoked it for days, then mashed it warned me away from the process :] Corn doesn't give me a rash.

[shaawnzee]

That's why I cheated and bought as cheap of a 100% agave as I could find ($20/1.75L) and made it much much better.

I put 2 cases worth in my keg boiler and ran it through my pot still, but incorporated a 2", 3' packed column for better separation. The first 150-250 mLs came out smelling bad, but after that it smelled awesome. Overall, got 2 gallons of 150 proof. After taking down to 80, it's a damn smooth tequila...far smoother than any top shelf blanco I have tried. I will admit it lost much of the agave flavor depth, but damn does it go down easy from a shot glass.

I've got a couple jars on 15 sq in charred oak and a couple on 25 sq in, each with different times on wood. I'll be toasting and chatting some peach soon for a couple more jars.

[raketemensch]

Someone posted a full agave-to-tequila experience over on reddit just the other day:

https://www.reddit.com/r/firewater/comm ... ave_syrup/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[shaawnzee]

Yep...won't be doing that...ever.

I'll continue cheating.