5 Ideas For A Healthy Breakfast

We wrap up the day at Esmina's Counter where we eat chicken fajita stewed with peppers on a plate of fluffy rice and refried beans. The tortilla maker brings a fresh hot tortilla every few minutes. The locals float in and out grabbing food on the go and enjoying conversation at the Kinochef Review counter. This place was recommended by our tour guide and it is the "hole in the wall" that every off-beat tourist hopes to find in their travels. We're on the road early travelling to El Arenal, another village about 15 minutes from Tequila. We visit an artisian cheese maker, a tortilla factory, walk the courtyard, then wrap up our visit to this town at Tequila Cascuin, where third-generation tequila maker, Salvador greeted us and walks us through the entire process of turning blue agave into tequila.

The giant pinas are split and then loaded into a large oven that can hold 2 tons of plant. Once loaded in, a worker packs the door edges with a concoction of ground up pina and mud that will seal the doors while the pina steams for 72 hours. Once the door is opened and the pinas cool, he grabs a piece for us to taste. It's similar to a sugared sweet potato and the fruit just melts in your mouth. We next see massive steel tanks full of fermenting agave juice. This brown and amber liquid is bubbling on the top, a reaction as the sugar turns to alcohol. Salvador measures the sugar and tells us this won't be tequila for another 48 hours, but rest assured he has some nearly ready to bottle. At a smaller tank, we can see the crystal clear liquid as it makes it's final round of filtration before going into the bottle. He pours the liquid into a tiny plastic tasting cup and shares with us. The mineral, smoke, and silky flavor come alive in my mouth. Now that's artisan tequila!