Casa Herradura NOM 1119

[blagave]

I visited Herradura, who makes Seleccion Suprema, Herradura anejo/reposado/blanco,El jimador,Hacienda del cristero, antiguo de herradura, Suave 35 and others.

Herradura is located about 40 minutes outside Guadalajara, there are buses that run back and forth to the facility. I would suggest possible getting a private car, we had a private driver for the day and the cost was about $100. we were able to go to the town of Tequila to see and do other things at our own pace.

Once you arrive at Herradura, you are confronted by an armed security gaurd in front of a very large gate, once you are allowed through the gate, you enter a large courtyard with buildings all around you. The office is to your right to check in for the tour, which is free, but tips are more than welcomed at the end of the tour.
Note: our friend that was with us is in a wheel chair and was unable to take the tour do to the cobble stone paths and the stairs.

The tour starts with some history about Herradura and the property. The walking tour starts with the agave seedling plants and then moves onto the harvested pina's being put into the stone ovens. The tour basically walks you through the entire process from shredding, fermintation, distallation and aging. The distallation is a double distilled process and the reposado is aged in huge wooden vats, while the anejo's are aged in single oak barrels.
One thing that you will notice throughout the tour is the wonderful aroma of agave in the air.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was when we went into the original building that was over a 100 years old and was the actual working facility for the making of tequila. This building has the original tohona wheel and the brick lined fermintation pits along with the copper distilling equipment. The room is all brick and absoultely breath taking.

The last room we went into was the tasting room, which was all brick with a brick barrel ceiling. Here we sampled the tequilas and learned how tequila is to be drank.

The tour lasts about an hour and was very informative, beautiful and very much worth pursuing. There is a store in the courtyard area that sells Herradura tequila and shirts etc. The price seemed to be comparable to other stores that I had visited while in Guadalajara.

I would highly recommend that you continue up the road about 30 minutes to the town of Tequila to vist the Jose Cuervo Facility and the tequila musem

I took a few pictures while there, but have misplaced them, hopefully I can find them and post them soon. Also, I will try and find the name and phone number of our driver, who is also a tour guide. He made our trip wonderful.

[bn087]

That sounds like a blast man. What was the total cost of staying in guadalajara. I've never been there, although I have been to cancun. Rates are generally not to bad when combined with airfare and stuff but I'm just curious....

[blagave]

Originally Posted by bn087

That sounds like a blast man. What was the total cost of staying in guadalajara. I've never been there, although I have been to cancun. Rates are generally not to bad when combined with airfare and stuff but I'm just curious....

I really don't remember what we spent for the 3 or 4 days, but if I had to guess for flight, hotel, food, driver etc, maybe $2,500 for two people (does not include buying tequila). Obviously, there are multiple ways of traveling and touring the tequila facilities, from staying in the higher end hotels and traviling with a guide and driver to staying in a more modest motel and taking the public transportation. You can also go online and find compaines that put together an entire package of air, hotel, transportation and tours. This might be more reasonable and everything is taken care of.

[bn087]

I thought about going to HDC's Sotol distillery, its about 8-9 hour drive from where I am located. Anyways, thanks for the tips...

[Piña]

I just got back two weeks ago from a trip to Guadalajara/Tequila.

I too got a cab for 100 bux round trip. OUr driver was very friendly and helpful. We went straight to Tequila and got a private tour of La Fortaleza (Los Abuelos). IT was totally amazing.
I want to do the Herradura tour, but I really did enjoy me and my girlfriend being the only guest on the tour. Not to mention Los Abuelos is my favorite anyway!

Round trip tix from LA was 350. We stayed at a 4 star hotel near Catedral Central for 80 bux a night, but up and down the street there were cheaper hotels (as low as 35 a nite) Guadalajara is beautiful and pretty safe.

The only thing I would change is that from the airport I would have gone right to Tequila and spent one night there first. Thats what Im doing next time.