Crafting Mexico’s Best Kept Secret

More than 400 years in the making…

Cool cucumber aroma with a fruit-forward taste and a quick, crisp finish containing hints of sunshine and caramel

Our story begins in the high, hot hills of Jalisco, Mexico—a world of colonial plazas, cathedrals, and neoclassical landmarks that sits alongside the Pacific Ocean… famously known for the original mariachi music, wide-brimmed sombreros, Mexican rodeos called charreadas, the celebratory Mexican Hat Dance, and also the birthplace of tequila… home of the blue agave cactus that grows dense in the rich, sandy soil.

Centuries ago, ancient Aztecs considered the blue agave plant sacred to their society, first harvesting its juices for medicinal purposes. The Aztecs created a poultice of agave nectar and salt to dress wounds and heal skin ailments. Once they discovered the plant’s natural sugars, they began to create a fermented beverage know today as tequila. And the town of Tequila in the Mexican state of Jalisco became home of the first tequila factory, established in 1600.

Hacienda Chactun Tequila is a premium artisanal product similar to craft beer or an aged fine wine. And growing the organic blue agave plant for tequila is a decade long love affair before we can begin to harvest! This is where quality begins, and it’s during this growing period that the blue agave plant develops all of its natural aromas and flavors.

Chactun Tequila begins by gathering the spiky leaves from the blue agave plant, ensuring their prime maturity at the time of harvest. Our farmers use a traditional jima to cut away the stems of the blue agave plant—the same traditional harvesting technique that’s been used for centuries.

To create our ultra-premium tequila, we add the freshest of water from our own pure aquifer. Water is taken from depths of nearly 1,000 feet, ensuring the most natural minerals and a supreme taste. Only 10% of Mexican distilleries have their own aquifer, so you know that Hacienda Chactun Tequila is crafted with only the finest ingredients. Also, a sugar content of at least 22% is required to create an organic tequila flavor; however Chactun has raised those standards to a content of at least 25% natural sugars. There’s an incredible amount of craft in every bottle of Hacienda Chactun Tequila, and certainly as much art as science goes into the production process.
We then use a Spanish diffuser to extract 99% of the raw nectar from the blue agave plant. This diffuser provides absolute purity, the ultimate cleanliness, and the least methanol of all Mexican tequilas. (Methanol is the ingredient that can leave you with a hangover.)

Next an adapted Danish yeast fermentation method produces the ‘Killer Effect’ by completely blocking any unwanted natural organisms in the yeast. It’s truly flawless fermentation at its best. Once fermentation is complete, authentic Hacienda Chactun Tequila is filtered through a DX Filtration System with both ozonation and a carbon press. This essential step provides premium smoothness and eliminates inconsistencies between lots.
Finally, the last step before bottling is to age our Chactun Tequila in American White Oak barrels to add the full aroma, taste, and other unique beverage characteristics that make Hacienda Chactun Mexico’s best kept secret!

A Discovered Secret

Enter the World of Chactun… Chactun Tequila

It’s time to sit back. Relax. And sip.

For the roots of Hacienda Chactun Tequila began in the spirit of celebration in ancient times. And the story goes a little like this…

The summer heat smoldered through the palace gates, though the Chactun goddess Mayahuel bore only the slightest of glows. Ever present, she remained poised on her gilded throne, a headscarf of hand-sewn yellow feathers wrapped loosely about the nape of her neck. The great ball court of Campeche spread before her, abounding with the energy of her subjects in preparation for the great Ya’axche Festival… a celebration of the connection between all that is… in heaven and on earth… and of both man and the Mayan underworld.

Glorious female dancers practiced the okot dance, every move practiced and precise… bending and swaying to the echoing drum beat… a sea of undulating golden feathers, crackling shells, and flashes of golden beads and decorations meant to dazzle the eyes. Headdresses stood nearly as tall as the women who wore them. And the love of the dance poured out through their glistening skin.

Groups of males smeared coatings of stained earthen mud across their faces, while others already masked in the tinted clay and covered in metallic body plates rehearsed their war training… stomping and grunting to the same heavy drum beat… dust kicking up a smoke of intensity… all meant to display the full prowess of their prospering nation.

Humorists surrounded by small groups roused enthused bursts of laughter that floated up throughout the great ball court. Theatrical performers rehearsed for the baldzamil show with wild gesticulations that even the furthest eyes of Mayahuel could see. And perhaps the most amazing of all, the magnificent illusions and trickery of the ezyah, only the best saved for the final Ya’axche celebration.

Drums thumped a beat into the surrounding rainforest, seeming to rile the birds, the beasts, and the natives just outside the palace walls. Upon the sun’s next rising, half the Chactun nation will climb the steps of the great ball courts to witness and celebrate and gorge on traditional fare, while the scents of lovely food and the sounds of celebration waft upward.

Mayahuel looked upon all that was before her. And she was pleased for it was good… months of rehearsed chants, timed movements, and golden body decorations led to this one day. All of this for mother earth… and all of this for her, the Chactun goddess Mayahuel.

So as we borrow from the past and step into the future, let Hacienda Chactun Tequila oversee your best days ahead. Rejoice the goddess in your life! It’s time to celebrate!