We drove out to the tequila production area, developed around the town of Tequila. It is about 45 miles NW of Guadalajara. While there, we toured an agave cultivation farm, several tequila factories and a tequila museum.

These agaves are similar to the agaves we have in AZ.

Mature agave plants drop seedlings which are picked up and replanted in regular rows.

While we were at this farm, we joined a Spanish language tour with this high school class.

At the age of about 8-10 years, mature agaves  are harvested by cutting the fruit (main plant) from the root with a half-moon shaped knife on the end of a pole, called a "coa."

The trimmed agaves are called "pineapples." After harvesting, they are transported to the factories for fermentation and aging.