How is the Raicilla made ?

The Raicilla production process has been an activity cared for and improved by the Master Taberneros over the years.

The Protected Designation of Origin and the Official Mexican Standard (NOM) establish three classifications of Raicilla production regarding its production process.

During all three, the process is careful from the production of the agaves raicilleros , to the final distillation.

Try Raicilla from jalisco to experience the original taste of agave spirit.

Classic

handcrafted

Ancestral

Agaves Raicilleros

A plant that waits

One thing to understand how is the raicilla made is a raw material, Agaves; a fundamental component in the Raicilla production process is the raising and cultivation of the Agaves Raicilleros .

Which, although several species and subspecies can be used, the most common are Agave Maximiliana Baker in the Sierra and Angustifolia How on the coast.

Maximiliana Baker

Angustifolia Haw

Explore the mysteries of Agave Maximiliana

Comparted to other varieties of Agave, Maximiliana reproduces only through seeds and not “hujuelos”. What necessarily require the plant to reach maturity, remove and ripen its seeds. Also, the producers of this variety wait patiently for more than 6 or 7 years, even longer, to be able to collect the seeds, and to induce the sowing, in a first stage in greenhouses and later transplanting them to their final home in the forest.

Agaves SElection

The selection of the Agaves is a fundamental part of the production process, they must be ripe, with the intention that the brix degrees from their sugars have reached their maximum splendor. The harvest will not be able to be done evenly as in the production of other beverages from agave, and only those that as mentioned are ready will be harvested. This usually happens between 6 and 9 years of the agave’s life. reaching up to X degrees Brix.

This is the most important part of production Don’t harvest too early or too late You must pick ripe agaves

Ripe for the picking

Jima

Once the agaves are selected, they proceed to the “jima” which is the harvest of these agaves, the Jimadores use “coas” to cut the stalks and remove these plants from the ground, and thus leave the so-called pineapples ready for cooking.

The nectar of these pineapples is then prepared for Raicilla production.

Enjoy handmade Raicilla

Cooking

The sugars contained in agave, such as inulin, are complex compounds that must be transformed into fermentable sugars by a hydrolysis process. This takes up to 6 hours to complete the conversion of inulins to fructose and glucose.

This process frees the simple sugars fructose and glucose and preserves the desirable agavins that would otherwise be lost.

Let’s cook them into some delicious Raicilla

2021