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At Mardel Souza, we can cure your Barrel before it ships to you.
If you didnt ask for curing you will get a non-cured barrel.
Also, if by any reason you leave your barrel without liquid inside, just fill it with water
to cure it again. Since the barrel was already cured before, this re-curing will take
significantly less time.
The whole purpose of curing the barrel is to allow the oak to expand and retain the
liquid inside. This is the same principle that allowed boats to float in the sea centuries
ago.
Rinse the Barrel several times until the water coming from inside has no wood
residues.
Fill the barrel up to 3/4 to full capacity. This will allow the oak to expand. The barrel
may leak during this process. After this curing period you will place the barrel in an
horizontal position (preferably on its base). As the wood Absorbed water, you will
need to replenish it until the water level stays the same.
This will be achieved in 3-15 days.
You are now ready to fill it with either Tequila, Whisky or any spirits that require
aging. You need to keep 3/4 of max level of liquid in the Barrel at all times
(remember, we don't want to sink the boat do we?)
Make sure the "cork" is placed tightly as the air will spoil the aging process.
It is important that you keep the Barrel full at all times to avoid the barrel to drying out.
Should the Barrel dry out , you just need to cure it again.
TEQUILA AGING
As the tequila is aged in wooden barrels, usually oak, it becomes smoother, with a
woody taste and golden color. Aging may disguise the agave flavor and few tequilas
are aged longer than three to four years.
Each distillery in Mexico is assigned a NOM number that shows which company made
or bottled the tequila.
There is no worm in tequila, that is Mezcal which is a whole different beverage.
Tequila Testing
The tequila taste test is conducted by amateur tequila tasters in a relatively
uncontrolled environment on multiple occasions, spanning weeks, months, or even
years. The tequilas are separated into Anejos, Reposados, and Blancos because it is
harder to compare them outside these groups.
Each of the groups are subdivided by taste with the current "favorite" at the top of the
list. The ratings and taste evaluations are arbitrary at best and the tequilas in the
middle tend to get blurred, but you can pretty much bet the farm on the top and
bottom of the list. Actually I don't think there are any "bad" tequilas here, there is a
time and place for each and every one of them.