G4 TEQUILA

Mexico

The Camarena Family has been making tequila since 1937, crafting some of the world’s best tequilas for generations. Where Felipe and his sons have established El Pandillo Distillery is a place where they honor their family’s proud tequila tradition and quality standards while innovating for today. The name of the distillery, El Pandillo was the name of Felipe’s grandfather’s favorite bull and the tahona stone you see was the only surviving piece of what would have been their family’s distillery during the Revolution.

With tequila’s growing popularity, many producers modernize and rush the process to the detriment of crafting great tequila. At G4, Felipe uses traditional stone ovens, cooking the agave for 22 hours. However, most stone ovens only cook from the bottom, creating wasted agave and uneven taste. G4’s ovens cook from top and bottom to bring out the pure agave flavor. In addition to this, when the agave is done, most producers discard this. At G4, they repurpose the remains and turn it into fertilizer, reducing waste.

G4 tequila is distilled using traditional copper stills for the 1st and 2nd distillation. It’s how tequila was traditionally made, and provides a better end result than stainless. While it takes a little more work and won’t last quite as long, when it comes to pursuing the highest quality standards, that little bit extra is worth it to Felipe. They say the devil is in the details – if you look at the photo, you’ll see yellow pipes taking the steam away. This is captured and used in other parts of the production process, making boilers at the distillery more efficient, reducing wasted energy.

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