La ruta del tequila

La ruta del tequila
By: Gina Roman


January 23, 2011
Many years ago my slogan was, “success is my destiny.” Then it was, “Success and beauty are my destiny.” And now it has become, “success, beauty and tequila are my destiny.” I’ll explain why this motto became “my” line.
Wow! I can’t believe how rapidly time goes by. Just a little over two years ago I met M .V. the main coordinator of “La ruta del tequila.” The Tequila route which is formed by El Arenal, Amatitan, Tequila, Magdalena and Teuchitlan, the five counties surrounded by “agaves” the plant that makes pulque, tequila and mescal. It was a long day in late November coming out of the Chamber of Commerce I had just dropped off my CV. I was in desperate search of more work – or a job I should say two months after the economy had crashed and all my classes kept getting cancelled so needless to say I like millions of people worldwide was very anxious and sad about losing work, money.
Regardless of the economic crisis, I was in the midst of a major crisis myself. Even though I was very discouraged to find work I still went hunting for something – perhaps anything.
Before I met M. V., I had no clue of what the Consejo Regulador del tequila was and before moving to Guadalajara I only knew of two tequila brands; Jose Cuervo and Cazadores. Of course I was clueless about the tequila route which adopted the concept of the Napa Valley wine tours.
I’ll start with the Consejo Regulador del Tequila – The Tequila Regulatory Council which was created in 1993. The CRT or TRC, is a nonprofit organization that consists of the Mexican government, distributors, bottling plants, tequila producers and blue agave growers targeting on the purpose of ensuring the integrity, quality and authenticity of tequila to the world.
The TRC works hand in hand with the Mexican government to make sure that when a customer purchases tequila, they get the authentic drink as opposed to “Guachicol” the fake and adultered version of the drink. The TRC has established strict rules and regulations that all the tequila distilleries have to follow, one of them is to pay the high cost of the “aranceles” taxes.
La ruta del tequila was created with the purpose of promoting tourism in Jalisco, especially in the towns of El Arenal, Amatitan, Tequila, Magdalena and Teuchitlan. This route was created and it is supervised by the TRC which regulates all the production, exporting and regulations of the drink tequila.
As of December 2010 there were close to or a little over 2,900 tequila brands if I’m not mistaken.
My journey with tequila started about two years ago when an agency sub contracted me to translate the subtitles of a few tequila videos. It was a fun experience and I never thought that I was just getting started with tequila. In Decembe of 2009 I translated the official website of the tequila route and I learned so much about tequila, more than I had since I’ve been in Guadalajara.
From there on, the coordinators of la ruta del tequila have hired me from time to time to do simultaneous translations for them. for example last year, the TRC had some visitors from a bank in Washington who is/was trying to invest in money on this project, there were also 3 or 4 deputies from the five tequila producer counties. It was an interesting experience. They have chosen me to be their “official” translator when they have visitors.
Last year I saw an advertisement on Craig’s list of a producer who is working on “The Road to Tequila.” CK the producer was looking for someone bilingual who was familiar with the history of tequila and I was the perfect fit! We interviewed the General Director of the TRC, someone from the Camara de la industria tequilera, the bar tender in the oldest bar in tequila, an activist who makes tequila manually from the backyard of his home and who shares a totally different perspective than all the big producers.

But the largest project I’ve done (I am in the process of ) is the classes for the business people and employees of the tequila route. That is correct! I was selected to teach almost one hundred people. I was thrilled when they called me last year and to be honest the budget is A LOT lower than what I had expected but I accepted it because I want to gain experience and because I am learning a million things.
I didn’t even have a full time Christmas break because there was so much to do, I was in the middle of moving for the 50th time this year, I was in the process of buying a car, I was looking into coming to an agreement with the Director of the Tecnólogico de tequila so they could lend us some classrooms, I was looking for teachers to help me out, I met with my accountant a few times so he could asses me on what to do, what paper work to fill out, how to register myself, the people that are now working with/for me, going to hacienda (the IRS).
It was this endless coming and going that I didn’t fully enjoy my vacation but it is completely ok because it is another challenge and I was so ready for a new challenge. Many times I ask myself for more and sometimes I think whatever I do is never enough according to my standards. One of my goals this year was to have high expectations of myself – and of my employees and that’s that!
I’m concentrating more on my knowledge because it is priceless. I’m just happy to start the year right, I’m feeling very positive, I want and I will get nothing but the best, more so as I get older and because I don’t want to move backwards or stay stuck in any stage of my life.