Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico. November 2019.

In November, I headed to Jalisco for a work project that took me to the agave fields in San Ignacio Cerro Gordo and gave me a first-hand look at the meticulous production process of Patrón Tequila. Jalisco is where my great-grandparents lived before they came north during the Mexican Revolution and I felt both excited and humbled during my first trip to the region. I flew into Guadalajara and went straight to a boisterous work dinner. I slipped out at one point to wander around the Tlaquepaque neighborhood. It was dark, rainy, and quite cold, but I felt so fortunate to be there, where my family came from.

Early the next morning, I headed east and was pretty much on the go for the next three days. It was fascinating to get a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating tequila from harvesting agave and roasting the piña to breaking it down with the tahona wheel and finally making cocktails. And there were many of them, thanks to Patrón’s Head Mixologist Oskar Murillo.

I spent the last full day in Atotonilco El Alto before heading off to the agave fields for a final day of shooting. The shoot ended with a burst of rain, a frantic covering of all equipment, and watching the red soil quickly turning to mud that got everywhere. A night of editing and then on the road again in the morning. It was a brief visit and certainly just the first trip. I will be back to Jalisco to explore further, soon again.