La Gritona

Melly Cardenas produces La Gritona Reposado, a 100% pure agave tequila, at her tiny distillery (NOM 1533) in the Valle de Guadalupe in the Mexican state of Jalisco's mountainous interior. The tequila is aged for 8 months before being packaged in a bottle made from repurposed Mexican Coke bottles. The tequila starts with agave that has been allowed to mature in the red soil of the Jalisco highlands until its sugar production is at its peak, and then is quickly baked in their ovens (within 24 hours) to preserve the sugars. After being roasted in earthen ovens with thick walls for 24 hours, the agave is allowed to rest for another 24 hours before being crushed. Mosto muerto is doubly distilled after the collected liquid has been allowed to organically ferment at a rate determined solely by the ambient air temperature. After 8 months of aging in previously used American whiskey barrels, the tequila is filtered and bottled. A small team of locals oversees each stage of manufacturing while all activities take place under one roof. Farmers in the area are provided the production waste in the form of agave stalks and other leftovers to utilize as livestock food. The one-hour journey from the distillery to the Tlaquepaque area of Guadalajara, where the distinctive bottles are hand blown from recycled glass, is well worth it.