Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/832383
6 / the tasting panel / june 2017 It was an unusual invitation, too intriguing to pass up: lunch and a tasting with El Tesoro de Don Felipe ® Tequila's Master Distiller, Carlos Camarena, at Slow Burn Glass Studio in Oakland, CA. The logic behind the choice of location wasn't immediately apparent; it might even seem a bit dangerous. But as Carlos explained the painstaking craftsmanship that goes into making El Tesoro ® , it became clear why Slow Burn Glass studio proved to be an inspired setting for the tasting, which doubled as a glass-blowing seminar for a group of the Bay Area's finest bartenders. Glass-blowing is a multi-step, time-consuming art. As we were to discover, even blowing a simple stemless wine glass requires absolute attention to detail at each step. The results of such care can't be mass-produced to the same quality. The making of El Tesoro de Don Felipe ® is no less an art. Carlos, whose family has been growing agave and making tequila in the Jalisco Highlands for five gen- erations, explained that terroir is as important to fine tequila as it is to fine wine. "Conditions are completely different between the Jalisco Highlands and the Tequila Valley," he told us. "Our soil is rich with iron, so Highlands agave is sweeter than the Valley's because iron is a precursor to sugar formation in the plants. Iron also infuses the water source with minerals, lending minerality to the finished tequila." by Diane Denham photos by Hardy Wilson Josh Fradis, Slow Burn Glass, teaches student and wine buyer Landen Higer the technique to blow an air pocket into a solid mass of molten glass.