The Spirit of Tequila
Agave dates back to the Aztec civilization as an important crop in Mexico. Since the 1600s, the people of western Mexico have cultivated blue agave from the red volcanic soil that blankets the region, to make what we know as tequila. The Spirit of Tequila celebrates the tradition, culture, and myth of this iconic drink. Joel Salcido traveled across the state of Jalisco capturing images of distilleries and artisanal tequileras, including blue agave fields at sunset, the agave's pineapple-like centers (piñas), elegantly shadowed barrel rooms (añejos), and, of course, the agave farmers themselves.

Nearly ninety photographs, taken with a medium format camera—some in full-color, some in duotone—reveal not only the tequila making process but also the region’s traditions of culture and religion. Haunting and beautiful, a church spire is juxtaposed with a firework celebration in honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe. A Mexican charro rides through the streets of Arandas. Near Atotonilco, a horse pulls a traditional plow through the fields to irrigate. Exploring the rooms and techniques hidden in the distilleries of legendary tequilas Herradura, Sauza, Jose Cuervo, Don Julio, and others, The Spirit of Tequila celebrates a craft that is rooted deep in the culture of Mexico.
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The Spirit of Tequila
Agave dates back to the Aztec civilization as an important crop in Mexico. Since the 1600s, the people of western Mexico have cultivated blue agave from the red volcanic soil that blankets the region, to make what we know as tequila. The Spirit of Tequila celebrates the tradition, culture, and myth of this iconic drink. Joel Salcido traveled across the state of Jalisco capturing images of distilleries and artisanal tequileras, including blue agave fields at sunset, the agave's pineapple-like centers (piñas), elegantly shadowed barrel rooms (añejos), and, of course, the agave farmers themselves.

Nearly ninety photographs, taken with a medium format camera—some in full-color, some in duotone—reveal not only the tequila making process but also the region’s traditions of culture and religion. Haunting and beautiful, a church spire is juxtaposed with a firework celebration in honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe. A Mexican charro rides through the streets of Arandas. Near Atotonilco, a horse pulls a traditional plow through the fields to irrigate. Exploring the rooms and techniques hidden in the distilleries of legendary tequilas Herradura, Sauza, Jose Cuervo, Don Julio, and others, The Spirit of Tequila celebrates a craft that is rooted deep in the culture of Mexico.
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Overview

Agave dates back to the Aztec civilization as an important crop in Mexico. Since the 1600s, the people of western Mexico have cultivated blue agave from the red volcanic soil that blankets the region, to make what we know as tequila. The Spirit of Tequila celebrates the tradition, culture, and myth of this iconic drink. Joel Salcido traveled across the state of Jalisco capturing images of distilleries and artisanal tequileras, including blue agave fields at sunset, the agave's pineapple-like centers (piñas), elegantly shadowed barrel rooms (añejos), and, of course, the agave farmers themselves.

Nearly ninety photographs, taken with a medium format camera—some in full-color, some in duotone—reveal not only the tequila making process but also the region’s traditions of culture and religion. Haunting and beautiful, a church spire is juxtaposed with a firework celebration in honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe. A Mexican charro rides through the streets of Arandas. Near Atotonilco, a horse pulls a traditional plow through the fields to irrigate. Exploring the rooms and techniques hidden in the distilleries of legendary tequilas Herradura, Sauza, Jose Cuervo, Don Julio, and others, The Spirit of Tequila celebrates a craft that is rooted deep in the culture of Mexico.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781595348234
Publisher: Trinity University Press
Publication date: 11/01/2017
Pages: 128
Product dimensions: 8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Joel Salcido grew up with one foot in Mexico and the other in the United States, straddling two languages and two cultures. His images appear in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the El Paso Museum of Art, the Harry Ransom Humanities Center at UT Austin, and the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. Additional acquisitions have been made by the Federal Reserve Bank, the Universityof Texas at San Antonio, and Universityof International Business and Economics in Beijing. The image Atotonilco El Alto, from this book, was recently inducted into Mexico’s National Art Heritage Series. Salcido lives in Austin, Texas.

Paul Salopek is an American journalist. A two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, he was raised in central Mexico. In 2013 he embarked on the “Out of Eden Walk,” a seven-year, 20,000-mile transcontinental foot journey along one of the migration routes taken by early humans out of Africa. Funded by the National Geographic Society, the Knight Foundation, and the Abundance Foundation, the project aims to immerse readers in the lives of nomads, villagers, traders, farmers, and fishers Salopek meets along the way. He has written for the Chicago Tribune, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, and National Geographic Magazine.

Chantal Martineau writes about wine, spirits, food, travel, and culture. Her work has been published in Vogue, Food & Wine, Departures, Saveur, The Atlantic, Forbes, Financial Times, and more. She is the author of the 2015 book How the Gringos Stole Tequila: The Modern Age of Mexico's Most Traditional Spirit, which chronicles the American coming of age of tequila, and is currently working on a book about mezcal. Martineau, a Montreal native, is based in New York.
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