A shot of tequila at the Lost Horse Saloon, in Marfa. 

The liquor arrives at a warehouse in El Paso after crossing the Franklin Mountains on the way north. 

Barrels line the walls at a distillery near El Arenal, Jalisco.

Aeration, the beginning of the fermentation process.

Blue agave cores, or piñas, about to be loaded into ovens.

A tequilero stirs a pot during fermentation.

An old copper still.

Old fermentation pits (early 1800’s) at Herradura’s tequila museum, on the site of a former distillery in Amatitan, Jalisco.

Above, from top: Master agave harvesters are known
as jimadores; gears drive the mashing equipment; a mature blue agave piña. 

A horse plows the agave fields near the highlands
town of Atotonilco El Alto, Jalisco.