This one is short. We are about to land, and I am getting the “eye” from the flight attendant…
Additive-free is crucial, but what’s beyond that?
Unadulterated.
How much could this mean? Does it extend to tradition and process? I was training our new national sales team last week, and I used this word without giving it much thought. I was using it as I was trying to describe the completely natural process we use to make Cambio. Our Colorado manager, Jason Hayes, wrote it down – (he also recorded my spiel I give when presenting to an account. It was unbeknownst to me, twice… so anyone can bug him for a long copy of the way we make Cambio) [email protected] ☺
He brought it up to me when I met him in Denver, as I hadn’t remembered every word from a 2-day meeting/lecture for our team. But it got me thinking about why we honor tradition, and why do we not use any ingredients other than agave, water, and yeast to make our tequila. I know a lot of brands are scrambling to claim they are additive-free while at the same moment in time, the CRT is clamoring to crush every one of them.
But there is more. What if a brand told people they are additive-free but use a diffuser to create their tequila? While it is technically true that nothing is added after distillation, using a diffuser to make tequila is certainly not unadulterated. Rather, it is the very rape of the heritage, terroir, and soul of tequila that defines the cultural elements so crucial to Mexican identity.
Maybe these sorts of questions are what consumers should be asking.
Why do you use a diffuser?
Why do you use chemicals to pull the liquid from the agave?
Why don’t you cook it properly?
Why do you use an autoclave (even at “low pressure”)?
Why do you roller mills to smash the agave fibers?
Why do you use bread yeast to perform fermentation?
Why do you ferment at 90° F?
Why do you ferment in stainless or aluminum blends?
Why do you distill without copper?
Why do you only use old, tired, and used American whiskey barrels?
Why do you lie to us?
What are you hiding, and what have you been hiding for decades?
All of these questions have nothing to do with additives, but every single one has a dramatic effect on the finished product. We can barely get consumers to think about sugars, caramel color, glycerin, and all of the other garbage flavors producers add to tequila.
It’s a lot of shit, especially for busy people running around with work, kids, sports, and phones to stare at all day long listening to therapists helping them get over that 1 day without TikTok…. oh the irony of having therapists on your phone to help you get over the addiction of your phone. No wonder we don’t notice 87% of our tequila is doped up for us.
I know it’s a lot, but we can try just a little. Maybe?
-John