{"id":1163131,"date":"2020-02-02T14:21:28","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T20:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1163131"},"modified":"2020-02-02T14:21:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T20:21:28","slug":"a-true-story-how-i-ended-up-next-to-8-million-worth-of-tequila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1163131","title":{"rendered":"A True Story: How I Ended Up Next to $8 Million Worth of Tequila"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Note from Dudley Pierce Baker, founder of Common Stock Warrants<\/a> and Junior Mining News<\/a>.
\nI am the Dudley\/Daniel referred to the this article below and yes, it was an incredible day with E.B. Tucker and John and especially meeting Felipe, the owner of G4 Tequila. Being the nature of competition I guess, E.B. did not mention that I have a stock warrant service. We chatted about warrants, others in the business, where we see the markets going and of course, tequila.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"CASEY<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Editor\u2019s note: <\/strong>Today, we\u2019re bringing you a classic story from our very own E.B. Tucker.<\/p>\n

E.B.\u2019s not just a successful investor. He knows the importance of getting away from your desk\u2026 and he\u2019s gone on numerous adventures abroad.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we had to share his tale from Mexico again. Along with his analyst John Pangere, E.B. got a behind-the-scenes look at a tequila distillery\u2026 and winded up meeting a stowaway and an IRS agent.<\/p>\n

You can find out more below\u2026<\/p>\n

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How I Ended Up Next to $8 Million Worth of Tequila<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

By E.B. Tucker, editor, Strategic Trader<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"E.B.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I went to Mexico in February with Strategic Trader<\/em> lead analyst John Pangere.<\/p>\n

After spending a few days in the ritzy Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City, John and I headed for Jalisco state to check on one of his personal investments.<\/p>\n

Prior to joining my team, John was working as an analyst focused on private investments. He worked on financing for a startup company that planned to import a new premium tequila from Mexico. He learned the tequila would be new to the U.S., but the family producing it was fourth-generation.<\/p>\n

They called the product G4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

John and his father Ross got involved in the upstart distribution company as passive investors. Over time, they got more involved. They met the man behind the exceptional product and ended up taking over the entire business.<\/p>\n

To be clear, John is not involved in producing tequila. He merely has the right to coordinate its distribution in the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., that means choosing which distributor in each state will comply with the local laws and get the product behind the bar or on the liquor store shelf. If the product takes off, it can turn into an impressive royalty business with a remarkably low overhead.<\/p>\n

And recently, John asked if I wanted to go down to rural Mexico and check on the distillery.<\/p>\n

Of course I did.<\/p>\n

And I ended up in rural Mexico with an intoxicated stowaway and a former IRS agent in a rental pickup truck\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We took an early flight into Guadalajara from Mexico City. The plan was to get out to the distillery and back to the airport in one very long day. In retrospect, it was somewhat ambitious.<\/span><\/h2>\n

A Fourth-Generation Tequila Distiller<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Having been to almost every part of Mexico looking at gold and silver mines, I\u2019m not at all afraid of traveling there. In fact, in all of my trips I have never once run into trouble. Most Americans cringe when you mention visiting the country. I will rent a pickup and head off to parts unknown without thinking twice.<\/p>\n

We took off from Guadalajara heading north, then east, looking for a town called Arandas. Once we found it, we headed down a smaller road to Jes\u00fas Mar\u00eda. After that, we hit a dirt road looking for the agave plantation.<\/p>\n

Agave is the key ingredient in tequila. Besides water, it\u2019s the only ingredient.<\/p>\n

The plant looks like a giant pineapple. The core grows in the dirt, while the thick green leaves flare out above. Tequila makers only use the heart of the plant and discard the leaves.<\/p>\n

I had seen plenty of pictures of agave plants. After George Clooney invested in Casamigos (which sold for close to $1 billion), tequila ads started popping up everywhere. The ads for premium tequila often show pictures of agave fields.<\/p>\n

These big-flared agave plants shown in premium ads are deceptive. Bigger is not always better. Similar to grapes for wine production, the size of the plant does not matter. Weather, rain, and altitude all affect how the agave plant looks as it grows. Time in the ground also varies. Some growers harvest plants in just a few years, while others wait close to a decade.<\/p>\n

A skilled tequila distiller knows to ignore the size, shape, and color of an agave plant and focus on just the sugar content. A fourth-generation tequila distiller, like the man pictured below, does it instinctively.<\/p>\n


\nMe, John, and our local gringo friend Dudley with fourth-generation tequila distiller Felipe Camarena<\/em><\/p>\n

The first thing Felipe Camarena said to me when we met was, \u201cExcuse me; I\u2019ve been drinking a little since Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026We arrived on a Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Camarena produces tequila in the same region as his father and grandfather did. It\u2019s in his blood\u2026 And he had a lot of it in his blood when we met.<\/p>\n

The quality of a premium tequila rests solely on the distiller\u2019s instinctive skill. As I mentioned, agave and water are the only ingredients. The rest is art.<\/p>\n

I am not a drinker, so I didn\u2019t know a lot about tequila when we arrived. I asked Felipe to arrange a full tour of his operation, start to finish. I wanted to see how the product goes from agave plant to bottle.<\/p>\n

Tequila \u2013 From Plant to Bottle<\/h2>\n

The first step in the process is harvesting agave. The distiller is going for the optimal sugar content. Too young, too old, too large, or too small, and the wrong mix of agave can cheapen the process.<\/p>\n

The agave arrive without leaves. Field workers remove those with a machete. Again, picture a pineapple without the leaves on the head.<\/p>\n

Next, workers at the distillery use machetes to split the agave in half.<\/p>\n


\nAgave plants ready for processing<\/em><\/p>\n

As far as the workers at the distillery, most speak English and have a technical background. These guys are very sharp. It\u2019s part of what makes premium tequila stand apart from bottom-shelf junk.<\/p>\n

The agave plant has very high sugar content. That sugar is what the distiller wants. To extract it, he has to cook the plant and then crush it, which produces a juicy syrup that starts the distillation process.<\/p>\n

After workers split the agave in half with a machete, they remove the heart, which you\u2019ll notice littering the ground in front of the split agave pictured above. This heart makes the product bitter if it\u2019s cooked with the rest of the plant.<\/p>\n

With the agave plants split, workers load the halves into a stone cooking furnace. This is the traditional way to cook agave. Some mass-market tequila makers use an acid bath to extract sugars from agave. It\u2019s faster and cheaper. If you\u2019ve never had tequila, you wouldn\u2019t know the difference. If you have, there\u2019s no going back.<\/p>\n


\nE.B. inside the agave oven<\/em><\/p>\n

The stone oven I\u2019m standing in holds 27 tons of agave. That\u2019s about 24,500 kilograms\u2026 or over 54,000 pounds. Each 10 kilograms of agave plant loaded into this oven will ultimately produce about one liter of tequila. That means this fully loaded oven will turn into around 2,500 liters of tequila on the store shelf.<\/p>\n

The cooking process takes two days. The first day is the actual cooking, with heat applied through the floorboards below. You\u2019ll notice (in the photo above) the plants are strategically packed so that warm air can circulate through them. The second day, the agave sit in the oven without heat, which allows them to cure.<\/p>\n

After two days in the oven, the cooked agave go into a stone pit that looks like a small loading dock. A homemade steamroller crushes the cooked agave, sending the sugary extract into a fermentation area.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s All About the Water<\/h2>\n

Tequila is essentially fermented agave and water\u2026 But not just any water.<\/p>\n

Felipe Camarena uses three sources of water to make his tequila: rainwater, spring water, and deep well water. He wouldn\u2019t tell me how much of each, but I gathered he mixes on instinct, not formula.<\/p>\n

The agave and water mixture heads to fermentation tanks for five days. Then, it goes into a still.<\/p>\n

The still hasn\u2019t changed much since people made hooch in the woods during Prohibition. The copper pots shown here have a copper coil running through them that looks like a corkscrew.<\/p>\n


\nStills turn fermented agave and water into clear alcohol<\/em><\/p>\n

The operator turns up the heat, making steam from the fermented agave and water mixture. The condensation from that steam drips into the stainless steel tanks in the middle. The distiller tests the alcohol throughout the process to make sure it meets purity standards.<\/p>\n

The finished product is clear tequila, also called \u201cblanco.\u201d Some of that heads straight into a bottle and onto a truck. It\u2019s ready to drink.<\/p>\n

The rest of the blanco tequila goes into barrels for aging. It turns into three different types of tequila, depending on how long it ages in the barrel. Each barrel holds 200 liters.<\/p>\n


\nE.B. in front of $8 million worth of barrel-aged tequila<\/em><\/p>\n

G4 sells four types of tequila:<\/p>\n