Production
Fabrica de Tequilas Finos
KAH Tequila is produced by Fabrica de Tequilas Finos, located in the town of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico at the foot of Tequila hill. The area is officially a heritage of humanity site, as declared by UNESCO. Most of the people working at Finos have worked there since its establishment in 2000, and that includes KAH Tequila Master Distiller Arturo Fuentes, who has been dedicated to the production of alcoholic beverages for forty-five years. More than a decade ago he was part of the team that created KAH.
Each step of the tequila making process—from preparation of the agave, aging in oak barrels, to filling into exceptional tailor-made bottles—is done in the traditional way, with a lot of passion and craftsmanship.
The craft of tequila-making
The craft of KAH tequila-making starts with the agave plant. Tequila can only be distilled from a specific variety of agave plant—blue Weber agave (a.k.a. agave azul or agave tequilana). It takes at least 6 to 7 years for an agave plant to grow to maturity before it can be harvested.
Only the “heart” of the plant (piña) that accumulates sugars is used for tequila production.
Planting, tending, and harvesting the agave plant remains a manual effort. The men who harvest agave (jimadores) have intimate knowledge of how the plants should be cultivated, passed down from generation to generation. At the moment of harvest piña weights between 70kg (110 lbs) to 110kg (240 lbs).
COOKING
After harvesting, the piñas are transported to our facility, cut into 2 or 4 pieces and then slowly baked for approximately 9 hours.
EXTRACTION
Baked piñas are shredded to extract their sweet juice.
FERMENTATION
Yeast is added to the extracted agave juice and then poured into large stainless-steel tanks for several days to ferment, resulting in a wort with low alcohol content.
DISTILLATION
This wort is then distilled twice to produce clear blanco tequila.
AGING
After distillation, tequila is either bottled as blanco or rested in wooden barrels to develop mellower flavors and an amber color. Reposado is aged between 2 and 11 months, while añejo requires at least one year of maturation in maximum 600-liter oak casks.
