Mexico/Jalisco: Tequila – Casa Sauza Distillery
Time to try tequila at the source and go on distillery tours. The first one was the famous Casa Sauza. Founded in 1973 by Don Sauza, it is one of the largest and oldest tequila houses in Mexico (now it is one by Suntory, the Japanese conglomerate that also owns Suntory Whiskey, Jim Beam bourbon, VOX vodka, Courvoisier cognag, and Crusan rum). Don Sauza started his distillery back in the day and called it La Perseverancia and he was the first to call the drink distilled from the blue agave “tequila” and the first to export it to the USA. Nowadays, Sauza produces a wide variety of tequila, most of it double distilled and 100% blue agave, and then either unaged or aged in American oak barrels. We got to try some of the rare products – Sauza Hornitos Crostalno, Sauza Hornitos Black Barrel. And Trea Generaciones Plata. And exploring the beautiful estate of Sauza is also fun – old buildings, gardens, fountains, and the actual distillery.