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You may not believe this but I'm a novela man.  I watch Mexican novelas at night.  You know about novelas, don't you?  They are Mexican soaps that go on for an hour each night and last several months.  Well, some of you who are also into novelas, I'm sure, watched "Destilando Amor." I did, nightly.  Part of  "La Novela" was filmed in Tequila, Mexico.  Ever since la jimadora Gabiota and Rodrigo and the filming of the movie, I've wanted to go to Tequila and walk the streets and taste the tequila there.

Well, my opportunity came this past weekend, or should I say, Monday, Nov. 10.  Alma and I were sitting at a restaurant with one of her six sisters and a sobrino having breakfast in Guadalajara and we were trying to determine what we were going to do to kill time before my plane left Guadalajara International Airport bound for LAX at 10:15 p.m.

Out of so many choices, we decided on Tequila which is 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara.  So we headed northwest on Autopista 15 and we were quickly there.  Our sobrino, Tito, drove estilo Tijuana which helped make the trip a little quicker than normal.

I quickly recognized la plaza and the streets where Gaviota and Rodrigo walked and drank shots of tequila.   The Cathedral was beautiful and surrounded by an opened church yard where the students stop after school and meet up with their friends before heading home.  I noted engravings above a side entrance that said "April 25, 1757," which I presumed was when the cathedral was built considering the town became an official village in 1656.

After a short walk around the Cathedral, we decided to take a tour of La Cofradia Tequila.  A short drive out of the city took us to the distillery and this is where I saw first hand how tequila is made.  Cofradia Tequilera contains a museum, art gallery, restaurant, bar, tequila store where you can purchase any type of tequila, a beautiful garden and pond and, of course, a tequila tasting session.

Here's what I learned about Tequila, some of it from la novela "Destilando Amor, and the other from the tour.  Tequila is made from 100 percent agave tequilana weber which is the blue variety.  If you tour the agave fields you'll see different stages of the plant growth.  The plants have to be between 8 to 10 years before they are harvested and the heart of the plant, la piña, is removed and sent to the distillery where the agave juice is extracted and placed in large tanks where sugars are added.  These sugars are converted after many hours of cooking the agave starches.  The juice is fermented and the sugars are turned into alcohol the level of a beer which is 5 percent to 7 percent.

The first process of distillation turns the juice to around 20 percent alcohol (40 Proof), and a second distillation turns it into 45 percent alcohol, or 90 proof.  The high levels of alcohol are dilluted with water and taken down to 40 percent alcohol, or 80 proof.

During our tour, we tasted the juice from la piña and it was delicious with a light taste of tequila.  We walked down to the distilliary area and tasted tequila which was at high levels of 80 percent.  Our lips and tongues burned for a while but the aftertaste was very good.  I learned that the normal drinking level is 40 percent, so this tequila would have to be dilluted and brought down.  We ended up at the tequila store where we tasted some more tequila and I purchased two beautiful bottles of ... you got it,  tequila.

Our tour ended back in the city of Tequila where we then toured Jose Cuervo, tasted a little bit more tequila.  By then, we were ready to head to Guadalajara International where I felt no pain and didn't care that my plane (Mexicana) was an hour late.  It was a great experience which I recommend to everyone ... er ... adults only due to the tequila tasting sessions.

Enjoy the pixs.