Texas Tequila? Well, they make everything else in Texas including beer, wine, bourbon and vodka. Why not have a Texas tequila? At least that’s what Tom Nall, owner and CEO of Republic Tequila thought when he decided to take on the idea of a Texas tequila in 2008.

NOTE: By law, tequila can only be made in Mexico from blue agave plants raised in the state of Jalisco (and a few surrounding counties) in order to be called tequila. Republic Tequila is completely produced in Mexico, but the business operation is rooted in Austin.

Having retired to a Colorado ranch following a successful career in the food marketing industry—he’s the brains behind Wick Fowler’s 2 Alarm chili you see in just about every grocery store around—Nall wasn’t exactly seeking out a 2nd career in spirits, but when he was introduced to the idea of Republic Tequila from a few business colleagues, he couldn’t walk away. Especially once he met Ken MacKenzie, an expert in tequila from California who had spent a number of years in Mexico learning the art of tequila production and carving out a niche as a consultant to Mexican tequila companies who wanted to bring their spirits to the United States.

MacKenzie was eager to oversee the making of his own tequila from start to finish and a partnership with Nall was the ideal way to make that happen. The two traveled through Guadalajara looking for different distilleries who could be a base for production.

To put this in perspective, there are thousands of agave farms around Jalisco. The agave from these farms is purchased and often grown exclusively for different tequila makers large and small. The harvested agave is then sent to hundreds of different distilleries to begin tequila production. There are more than 100 distilleries making more than 900 brands of tequila in Mexico. Because there are only so many distilleries, multiple brands of tequila come from the same location.

After surveying a number of different distilleries and meeting with different agave farmers, Nall and MacKenzie stumbled on a master distiller named Sebastian Melendrez at La Quemada distillery. Melendrez was formerly the master distiller for Herradura, Nall’s favorite tequila, and his entire operation was based on producing 100% organic agave tequila. (A very time intensive and expensive endeavor that requires the fields to be certified that there are no herbicides or pesticides, and the distillery itself has to be certified to prove that there are no foreign cleaning agents, yeasts or accelerants.)

Nall immediately honed in on the unique rarity of a distillery like this.

“For us, this was the point of difference that I knew could set us apart from any other tequila in the States,” says Nall. “You have to have a point of difference that separates you from the other guys. The quality of the tequila that comes from this distillery is worlds apart from large production facilities.”

A fourth-generation agave grower, Melendrez harvests his agave at a maturity of 8 to 12 years and steams his harvest in traditional brick ovens for up to 72 hours before cooling and shredding the agave to extract the juice. The juice is then fermented with a natural strain of organic yeast for up to 8 days.

“We could easily add accelerates to the fermentation process like many other large production companies do, but it’s not natural. There’s nothing wrong with doing it, but we are bringing an artisan quality to our tequila by using completely natural methods,” says MacKenzie. “Some larger brands have to accelerate their process, they have a certain quantity to produce. But in the end it’s the difference between cooking with a microwave instead of cooking with a conventional oven. We believe the flavor comes through in the final product.”

The spirit is then distilled twice. Only twice.

“You see all sorts of labels on bottles that say the spirit has been distilled three times or four times, but that added heat just takes away from the key ingredient, the agave,” says MacKenzie. “If you distill it more than twice, you start to get the equivalent of nonfat milk in the final product, it just doesn’t have any complexity.”

Once the tequila has been distilled, it is then rested for 3-5 days before it is bottled. This lets it aerate and take on a smoother quality that you can immediately distinguish in the “plata” or silver version of Republic Tequila. The production also includes a portion of the spirits aged in organic Jack Daniels oak barrels for 8 months for the Reposado—with smooth, vanilla notes—and 20 months for the Añejo —with nutty, smoky flavors.

The idea is that you can drink any one of these tequilas on its own, as opposed to blending it up in a sugary-sweet margarita. (Though you can certainly do that too.)

“Unfortunately, Americans have a phobia about tequila because we drank bad tequila when we were young and regretted it the next day,” says MacKenzie. “But that’s not how it is in Mexico. With Republic Tequila, we’re trying to show that tequila is an epicurean product, almost more so than Cognac because of all the flavor characteristics brought out by agave that’s more than ten years old. Think about the terroir that melds into the plant over that time, and the great care we take to make it.”

Indeed, as MacKenzie suggests, there’s a lot more to tequila than that one ounce shot (or two) your friends pressured you into in college, and when you sample each of tequilas from Republic, you can taste the difference.

Republic Tequila exploded onto the Texas market in 2009 finding spots on retail, restaurant and bar shelves all across the state. And it’s also sold in six other states. You can easily spot it by the distinct Texas-shaped glass bottles. And if you ask bartender at anyone of the hip new bars in your town, they’ll likely come up with something creative to show off just how nice this tequila is. Houston Eaves of Austin’s Contigo restaurant, is a big Republic fan.

“I like how well made this tequila is,” says Eaves. “You can tell how much effort is put into making it. It’s light, smooth and has a great vegetal agave quality to it.”

As an experiment, Eaves played on the smooth characteristics of Republic’s Reposado and aged it for 25 days in a 4-liter oak barrel with vermouth (Cocchi Vermouth di Terino and Dolin Vermouth de Chambery Rouge) with the intent of making a tequila-based Manhattan. He released the aged spirit in the form of a “Republic of Contigo” cocktail last month and quickly sold out of the velvety smooth beverage in a matter of a couple of weeks.

“We didn’t have a lot to work with since it was just an experiment, but it was a great way to show people how great a tequila can be in a cocktail when you use ingredients to really make that spirit shine. Republic’s Reposado makes it really easy to do that.” says Eaves.

Republic of Contigo

3 ounces Republic Tequila Reposado/Vermouth blended and aged spirit (Or 2 ounces Republic Tequila, 1 ounce Sweet Vermouth – Cocchi Vermouth di Terino or Dolin Vermouth de Chambery Rouge

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir in mixing glass and serve up with a grapefruit twist.

- Jessica Dupuy

Tagged: Contigo, Houston Eaves, Jessica Dupuy, Ken MacKenzie, Republic Tequila, Tom Nall