On the high dry Jalisco lands two hours outside of Guadalajara there is a little town called Tequila. Not the drink, but the drink’s hometown. This tiny village is about a third the population of Evanston, on rolling hills. Its a half mile above sea level and only a short distance from the Pacific. It has a beautiful 18th century church, and well… a lot of Tequila.

The liquor is there right on the city’s coat of arms. Pictured are the church, the distilleries and fields of agave. None of that is false advertising. There are any number of distilleries in town and each one has its own tour. The tours vary in quality, but can be great fun. The church is the central structure in the town’s main square. And the fields of agave are striking.

Agave is tequila’s grape. They look nothing like grapes but agave is the source of the drink. These spiny blue green plants look more like cactuses. They grow in rows that stretch out across the landscape. The individual plants can be as long as 8 feet across, with artichoke like hands reaching out in all directions. The starchy center of this plant or the “pina” is the source of the starch that becomes the sweet stuff which fuels yeast that makes two things: Carbon dioxide (released in the distilling process), and ethanol or alcohol.

The agave plant fermented into liquor can make many types of drinks called mescals, but only the blue agave of Jalisco and some neighboring states can be cultivated into tequila. The plant is distinctive in its color and for the quality of sugars that are made from its starches. France has Champagne and Burgundy Mexico has Tequila. Just as Sparkling wines not made in champagne cannot bear ...