Tequila

A night and two days among La Rojeña, Sauza and the volcano fields

Reach Tequila by mid-morning on an early bus from Guadalajara's Central Vieja and start at the main plaza. Look into the Santiago Apóstol parish church, then walk to the Museo Nacional del Tequila for the drink's history from pre-Hispanic fermentation to the modern industry, before a midday tour of La Rojeña, the José Cuervo distillery.

Midday. Join a tour of La Rojeña, the José Cuervo distillery. You see the piñas being loaded into ovens, the crushing, the fermentation tanks and the copper stills, ending with a tasting. Lunch at the Mercado Cleofas Mota or on the Callejón del Hambre food alley.

Afternoon. Walk to Casa Sauza's La Perseverancia distillery and its gardens, or take a taxi to a smaller family distillery on the outskirts, where agave is still crushed with a stone tahona. As the heat eases, walk out into the fields at the edge of town to see the rows of agave up close.

Evening. Return to the plaza before nine for the nightly blessing, then dinner and a final tasting in one of the bars around the square.

Day two. Book a morning field tour to watch jimadores harvest agave with the flat-bladed coa. Afterwards, take a taxi to the Cascada Los Azules for a hike and a swim, or relax at the Balneario La Toma. On the way back to Guadalajara, stop in Amatitán for the Herradura hacienda and a cantarito at one of the roadside stands.

Cantaritos, sangrita and birria from the Callejón del Hambre

Tequila's food is honest Jalisco cooking made to go with a drink, and locals eat cheaply at the Callejón del Hambre food alley and the Mercado Cleofas Mota. Shared tables there serve tacos, gorditas, quesadillas and bowls of stew, and birria is the classic weekend breakfast; order a cantarito to go with it.

Look for birria, the state's famous stew of goat or beef slow-cooked with dried chiles and spices, served with its broth, onion, coriander and lime; it is a classic weekend breakfast. Carne en su jugo, beef cooked in its own broth with beans and bacon, comes from Guadalajara and is common here too. Evening cenadurías, the simple family diners that open for supper, serve pozole rojo, tostadas and enchiladas.

Then there is the drink. In the tasting rooms, good tequila is served neat in small glasses: blanco straight from the still, reposado rested in oak for a few months, and the darker añejo. A traditional chaser is sangrita, a red mix of orange juice, chile and pomegranate or lime, sipped in turns with the tequila. On hot days order a cantarito, tequila with orange, lime and grapefruit juice topped with grapefruit soda and a pinch of salt, served in a clay pot that keeps it cold; the roadside stands in Amatitán have made it famous.

Watch for ovo, a seasonal fruit sold in the local market and rarely found outside this area.

The Feria Nacional del Tequila and the rainy green agave months

October to March is the best time for Tequila: dry and pleasant, with days of 28 to 30 C, nights down to 10 C in December and January, and under 25 mm of rain a month. That is when walking the agave fields is comfortable; spring is hot and summer brings heavy rain and green hills.

Spring is hot. The hills are dry, the light harsh, and the best time for field tours is the early morning.

The rains break in June with 155 mm, rising to 253 mm in July and 200 mm in August, falling mainly in afternoon storms. Temperatures drop to around 30 to 31 C, the countryside turns bright green around the blue-grey agave, and the Los Azules waterfall is at its strongest. Paths and dirt roads can be muddy.

The big event is the Feria Nacional del Tequila, from late November to mid December, which coincides with the feast of the town's patroness, the Purísima Concepción, on 8 December. The distilleries set up tasting stands, a Tequila Queen is crowned, and there are charreada rodeos, mariachis, parades with floats, fairground rides and fireworks. Rooms fill fast, especially on weekends.

The agave harvest itself runs all year, as each plant is cut when it matures after six years or more, so you can watch the jimadores at work in any season.