Thus it is that in the ancestral lands of the community of Amatitán, in its canyons due to the abundance of water, the physical vestiges of the oldest manufacturing places of mezcal wine, the the primitive elements for cooking and fermentation of the beverage are found. It can be said that the natives of Amatitán developed the planting and cultivation of mescal, domesticating, adapting, and utilizing this plant, and also, in adapting and utilizing the material elements of the area, they invented a technique and process for manufacturing the spirits that were mezcal wine.

On the other hand, the Indians of the community of Tequila, before 1653, had permitted the Spanish and Creoles to settle on their lands where they planted sugarcane and established sugar mills. They authorized the division of the town beginning at the arroyo that crosses through it so that on one side a town named “Torre Argas (Orgas) de Ulloa” where the Spanish and Creoles lived existed, and on the other side of the arroyo the Indian town was located (22). Although after 1663 the town was re-established as founded, settlement continued in this fashion (23). There is no evidence that the Indians of Tequila planted mezcal nor manufactured mezcal wine, and from the documentation it is evident that it was not until the final third of the eighteenth century that the first taverns for the manufacture of mezcal wine appeared in the town of Tequila.

The oldest site where an installation or “Tavern” [taberna] to manufacture mezcal wine is found is on the lands that pertained to the Indian community of Amatitán. The site permits us to acquire knowledge of the technique and equipment for the manufacture of mezcal wine as used by the people of Amatitán; these should not be very different from those employed prior to the conquest.

According to this physical evidence, the process began with the cooking of the mezcal by using an oven of the type known as barbecue [barbacoa], a prehispanic structure excavated there, the walls of which were lined with volcanic stone. These are the characteristics of the oven located on the lands of Amatitán, the only one of its kind found to date.

The volcanic stones were found inside the oven and in the area around it, indicating that they were mixed in the interior with the strips of mezcal, so that in this fashion they aided in the circulation of hot air to assist in cooking and in avoiding the crushing of the mezcal as it softened from the process.

Once the stalks and the core were cooked they were removed from the oven and ground in a vat or circular tub, commonly called a tahona (24), although it had nothing to do with the Hispano-Arabic tahona other than in the name, perhaps because it was associated with an instrument for grinding similar to a tahona. At the Amatitán site the tahona is circular and its floor is lined with basaltic rock in the form of cut, fitted stone slabs encircled with stones to complete the vat. This is similar to the mortar and pestle, also a prehispanic implement, although in this case of greater dimensions and capacity.

When the juice was obtained, it had to be fermented. For this, the site of Amatitán has tubs or wells in cylindrical or spherical form, worked from sources of a soft conglomerate rock called Tepetate (25) that is easy to work and maintains temperature and humidity. These demonstrate how the natives solved the problem of having a greater capacity for fermentation than that provided by clay vessels. Thus the physical location of this type of rocky soil for the installation of the tavern was important, in that all indications show that the composition of the Tepetate aided directly in fermentation. Although this must have been very slow given the temperature of this rocky material, on the other hand it provided a natural component favorable to fermention, even if slow.

After fermentation the juice was then distilled, it being necessary to provide a double distillation that was originally carried out by using clay vessels. These were, shortly after the conquest, substituted with copper devices that were called Fondos, a type of still.

WATER, THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENT:

The factory or tavern had to be in a location near to the sources of water, since it was used in abundance, both in the mill as well as in adding it to the juice obtained so that it would give it the proper density for fermentation.

In the case of Amatitán there was a shortage of water in the town, but it was abundant in the canyons that were property of the town, as the tavern found in Amatitán demonstrates.

According to Jimenez, tequila has been commercially produced in Amatitan as far back as the first third of the 16th century.

NOTES

(19).-Archivo Histórico de Tequila. Sucesión de Luis Clemente González, 1726.

(20).-“Fonditos”: small stills for distillation of mescal wine.

(21).-Archivo Histórico de Tequila.

(22).-Archivo Histórico de Tequila.

(23).-Biblioteca Pública del Estado de Jalisco, Guadalajara. Expediente del Ramo Civil de la Real Audiencia de Guadalajara, Caja 16-1-215.

(24).-Tahona es la denominación que se daba en España al molino tirado por animales.

(25).-“Tepetate”:del azteca “Tetl” piedra, y “Petatl” petate, estera; cierta clase de piedra amarillenta blanquecina, con un conglomerado poroso; sedimento media formación de petrificado compuesto de partículas silicosas.