Artisanal Exploitation:
Craft tequila and the reproduction of class in rural Mexico
Claire Sterngold csterngold@gmail.com/11181516 Supervisor: Luisa Steur Second Reader: Tina Harris Third Reader: Megan Raschig MA Thesis: MSc Social and Cultural Anthropology Submission Date: 31st January, 2017
“Cuando me entro, me pongo la camiseta” (When I enter the company, I put on the shirt) -Juan, Floor Supervisor, Caballero Tequila
I would like to thank the Rivera, Juarez, and Quintero families for their endless hospitality and warmth. You took me into your homes and made me one of your family. Les extraño. I would also like to acknowledge the distillery owning families, without whom I could not have completed this research. Finally, I would like to thank every single distillery worker, you have forever placed your mark on my heart. Ustedes me dieron mucho alegría. Gracias a todos para acceptarme,
y abriendo las puertas a su mundo a mi investigación Hasta nos encontramos otra vez.
Artisanal Exploitation:
Craft tequila and the reproduction of class in rural Mexico
Claire Sterngold 11181516/csterngold@gmail.com Supervisor: Luisa Steur
Second Reader: Tina Harris Third Reader: Megan Raschig
MA Thesis: MSc Social and Cultural Anthropology Submission Date: 31st January, 2017
Abstract:
Protective, value labels play a crucial role in the success of craft tequila. This thesis addresses the narratives constructed by artisanal tequila owning families to articulate their connection to
heritage, tradition, and the local communities. Value labels continue to premise cultural protection on market based mechanisms and the exchange value of products. As protections dependent on a sustained connection between the local and the global, artisanal distillery owning families must invest heavily to produce an authentic narrative. When this harmonious image is deconstructed, it reveals local communities stripped of land control, facing severe structural impediments further entrenched through the implementation of neoliberal policies. In delving deeper, the local inequality and continuing stagnation of wages leading to socio-economic decline are a direct result of actions taken by the owning families. These actions therefore display a clear contradiction between the reality of the communities where these distilleries exist and the narrative of artisanal tequila the world consumes. Affected by neoliberal policies, an unstable labor market and emic notions of masculinity perpetuated by local culture, workers continue to reproduce these circumstances. In doing so, workers reinforce and essentialize their rural, landless, working class position through their relationship to their labor and the distillery owners. This thesis deciphers the direct actions taken by distillery owning families to reproduce workers as struggling, laborers, to their immediate financial gain. The shifting and intensifying instability and precarious existence labor face in an increasingly privatized and de-regulated market situate this study in a post-modern assessment of continuing relations of exploitation under capitalism.
Key words: Mexico, Tequila, Artisanal, Authenticity, Value-labels, Neoliberalism, Class, Exploitation
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ... 6
Prologue ... 8
1. Introduction: Mapping the Artisanal Tequila Landscape ... 9
The Process—Traditional tools and techniques ...12
What is the Denomination of Origin? ...13
Historical background: Transformations in Mexican Agriculture ...14
The Denomination of Origin and Construction of Discourse ...18
Heritage ...20
Authenticity ...21
Protecting Value ...23
Research Question(s): ...25
Methods, Population, and Setting ...26
2. Constructing an Image: Craft identity in artisanal tequila ... 29
The importance of design ...33
Creating a Niche Clientele ...36
Generational Reproduction ...37
Tequila Families and the preservation knowledge ...40
3. Distillery Life—Narratives Deconstructed ... 45
The Community—Tequila producing localities ...49
Nacimiento—Home to Casa Rivera tequila ...49
Tequila—The birthplace of tequila ...50
Owning families and the consolidation of wealth ...53
Education and spatial separation in rural distillery communities ...56
Wages, contracts, and economic instability ...59
Impacts of neoliberal policies on worker livelihoods ...66
4. Reproducing Inequality: Solidification of class divides ... 73
Union activity, and the production of a worker identity ...73
Masculinity and gender in the reproduction of the distillery worker ...78
Trabajar es la Vida: Labor customs and the entrenchment of poverty ...85
Nostalgic symbols and the construction of a working class ...88
5. Conclusions: Protecting exploitation ... 94
References ... 101
“Soy pobre, pero soy feliz. Tengo mi familia, tengo mi trabajo, y tengo mi hermoso pais. Soy orgulloso, porque soy Mexicano” (I am poor, but I am happy. I have my family,
my work, and my beautiful country. I am proud because I am Mexican). -Enrique, floor worker, Casa Rivera Tequila, August 2016
Prologue
The workers of las fabricas de tequila (tequila factories) are proud. The tequila they produce has been validated at an international level as something, puro Mexicano (purely Mexican). Distillery workers believe their work to be important in representing Mexico around the globe. Tequila has played an important role in the history of Mexico (Najera-Ramirez 1994, Mulholland 2012). Where one can read about Mexican men, the Mexican revolution, Mexican music, and Mexican culture, tequila is almost always present. Workers believe in producing tequila they are contributing to the history of Mexico; they are part of the historical past and the possible future, making history through their work.
The research presented in this thesis stems from ethnography performed over the course of three months in small-scale, artisanal tequila distilleries, where traditional methods are maintained under the guise of preserving heritage, quality, and authenticity. Under the pretense of preserving a traditional tequila, sustaining a rural, local economy, and marketing a “quality” product to a niche consumer market, this thesis will address the reality that is masked by the artisanal tequila image.
1. Introduction: Mapping the Artisanal Tequila Landscape
Mezcal, described as the precursor to tequila was first made before the Spanish invasion in the 15th Century (Bowen 2008, Bowen & Gaytán 2012, Bowen & Gaytán 2015). The Spanish disliked the taste of this smoky liquor, finding the flavor to be too harsh. The colonizers adjusted the process in order to produce a flavor more similar to that of Ron (Rum) (Bowen & Gaytán 2012). At its inception, tequila was first named mezcal wine in order to differentiate it from other mezcal spirits. Mezcal is made using indigenous methods, and distilled from different species of agave. Tequila on the other hand, can only be made from one type of agave, Agave Weber Tequilana (Weber Tequila Agave). Blue agave (as it is colloquially known for its color) takes between 7-10 years before it is maduro (mature), at which point it harvested. The leaves or arms of the plant are cut off to reveal a round or ovular heart known as the piña. This is the part of the agave used to produce tequila.
In the contemporary tequila market, the largest producers create a type of tequila known as a mixto (mixed), whose composition is 51% blue agave, and 49% another, usually cheaper distillate1 (Bowen 2008, Bowen & Gaytán 2012). The reasons for changes to the percentage of agave needed to produce a spirit that can be labeled tequila are due to shortages in agave production and rising agave prices, as well as cost cutting measures implemented by the largest tequila corporations (ibid). Changes to the regulations and composition percentages must then be approved by the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT—Spanish acronym): a private regulatory organization established by the founding families of the tequila industry in order to regulate, standardize, and oversee tequila production (Bowen 2008, Bowen Gaytán 2012, Informant Interviews June-September 2016).
Tequila production is limited to five Mexican states, with the majority of Tequila produced within the state of Jalisco (Bowen 2008). The Los Altos or highland region, and the Tequila-Amatitán Valley are the two largest areas of agave cultivation and tequila production (Informant Interviews June-September 2016). Jalisco as a state has an important position within the Mexican imagination and is a purveyor of many Mexican symbols worldwide such as El Charro2, Mariachi, and Tequila. Land in Jalisco is fertile and therefore valuable, as much of it is used for the cultivation of agave, maiz (corn), or frijol (bean).
Land ownership in Mexico has a long and complex history. Before the Mexican Revolution of 1910 much of the arable or grazing land in Mexico was privately owned by large Haciendas (Bowen 2008). After the Revolution land was
2 Classic image of the Mexican cowboy or horseman and stems from the Charreada or Mexican rodeo
(Najera-Ramirez 1994:1).
Figure 1. Map of Denomination of Origin. Courtesy of www.crt.org.mx
Figure 2 Map of Guadalajara, Amatitán-Tequila Valley, and Los Altos Regions. Courtesy of Google Maps
redistributed through the ejido system or communal land tenure. In contrast to other Mexican states, in Jalisco and more specifically in Los Altos, as well as the Amatitán-Tequila Valley, the number of ejidos is very low as much of the land is privately owned3.
Figure 3 Ejido Data for Tequila Producing Regions. Courtesy of National Ejido Data Institute
These numbers were verified during a structured interview with the owner of Casa Rivera Tequila4. There is almost no communally owned land in the municipality of Arandas, where a few of the distilleries that have informed this research produce their tequila. This holds true in the other large municipality of the region, Tepatitlan, and Amatitán and Arenal5 in the Amatitán-Tequila Valley. These locations are therefore economically distinct from many other rural areas in Mexico. Under private ownership these lands are easier to be acquired by large multi-national corporations as well as economized and made profitable. Private land ownership in the tequila producing regions has meant therefore that these areas are immensely profitable for land owners.
Tequila is considered the national beverage of Mexico6. Its historical ties to the Mexican revolution, Mexican male identity, and the Mexican cultural landscape cannot be underestimated.
3 In the Amatitán-Tequila valley the regions where the majority of agave are grown: Arenal, Amatitán, and Tequila. In Los Altos: Arandas, Atotonilco (not pictured), and Tepatitlan de Morelos.
4 One of the two artisanal distilleries where the author studied the most extensively.
5 Arenal, Amatitán, and Tequila make up the agave corridor and are the three anchor towns that make up the valley.
6 Mexico is home to many cevezerias, Mezcal distilleries, Pulquerias just to name a few, but nonetheless Tequila is colloquially known as the national beverage of Mexico (Bowen & Gaytán 2012, Bowen 2008, Bowen & Valenzuela Zapata 2009).
As Mary-Lee Mulholland (2012) addresses, “the image of the macho in a cantina challenging, embracing, and consuming tequila” (240) is explicitly tied to the identity of El Charro “a master symbol of Mexican culture” (Najera-Ramirez 1994:6). These authors argue that the construction of a cultural (male) identity in Jalisco is linked to the “consumption of tequila, Charrería7, and Mariarchi8” (Mulholland 2012:239). The importance of tequila and its consumption within the Mexican cultural landscape therefore contributes to a general master narrative on masculinity and Mexican male identity within Mexico and abroad. “The image of the rough, hard-working cowboy is explicitly invoked in the promotion of these three traditions and symbols” (Lee-Mulholland 2012:239). These images are of historical and economic importance to both the distillery owners, as well as their rural (mostly male) workforces.
The Process—Traditional tools and techniques
The distilleries I will focus on throughout the course of this thesis maintain the use of steam ovens, both masonry and autoclave9, open tank fermentation with naturally present wild yeast, steal, wooden or concrete fermentation tanks, and steal or copper stills. This is distinct from a corporate distillery who may use a diffusor10, synthetic yeast, closed tank fermentation and/or column still distillation. These elements are what the distillery owners argue make their tequila unique, setting them apart from corporate tequila distilleries.
7 The art or sport of being a cowboy and participating in the rodeo. The style, customs, skills, and tools, needed to be a proficient charro (Najera-Ramirez 1994:6).
8 Style of Mexican music, usually with a twelve-piece band, claims its birthplace to be the state of Jalisco. 9 Smaller, more modern oven that continues to use steam but because of the round shape applies more downward pressure, as well as allowing for greater control over the amount of steam and the temperature because of the stainless steal exterior, all of which allow the distillery to cook the agave faster.
10 A diffusor is a machine that extracts the juice of the agave from the uncooked plant in approximately 30
minutes (info received during a Sauza tour July, 2016) and needs just one or two men to turn on and off the machine.
Many of the artisanal distillery owning families own the land upon which they grow their agave. These families therefore do not need to rely on independent farmers or intermediaries “coyotes,” to buy their agave. This enables owners to make decisions separate from issues happening in the open agave market (Structured Interview, September 2016). A decision they claim benefits the quality of the agave and their control over the process. This control, owners argue, allows them to be pickier with the agaves they use; choosing specifically for ripeness, quality, and sugar content, instead of having to choose from the supply provided by an
intermediary (Structured Interview, owner Casa Rivera tequila, September 2016). These aspects of the artisanal, family owned distillery, along with the location, general size, and embeddedness in the local community are all discussed when marketing their products.
The manner in which these distillery owners showcase their traditional process, their preservation of agave and the land, and market these elements to both Mexicans and a broader global audience, provide the foundation for their narrative of authenticity and quality. Once these images and their adjoining meanings are presented to the consumer they reinforce owning
families’ connection to tequila producing localities and subsequently the importance of these families to preserving tequila culture.
What is the Denomination of Origin?
The Denominación de Origen is a geographical indication (GI) that stipulates the origin of a product (Bowen & Zapata 2009:108). Elizabeth Barham states these indicators are value-based labels that connect a product to a local site with local production (Barham 2002). The publicly owned, Denominación de Origen (DO) upon which artisanal tequila narratives depend, is premised upon the transposed French notion of terroir (addressed in the following section). Value labels and certifications premised on this notion stipulate a market-based protection for
producers and products, as nation-states intervene to protect goods whose production is perceived as specific to a certain place and therefore of historical and/or cultural significance. These market-based protections fit into a broader neoliberal discourse on protecting property rights, and enforcing standardization. As Guthman (2007) explains, the value of these products is only realized when they are exchanged as a commodity within a global market (456-57). What value labels leave unaddressed is the effect these protections have on those who produce the goods—the workers. The aim of many of these labels is to protect the “natural resources and labor from the ravages of the market” (2007:456). This thesis will analyze if these labels have had the intended effects of re-embedding tequila within the local context and thus reducing exploitation.
Historical background: Transformations in Mexican Agriculture
Land holds a significant place in the history of Mexican protest and peasants’ rights. The Mexican Revolution signaled a historical shift in land rights; redistributing large swaths of land that were traditionally held by wealthy haciendas (Bowen 2008, Bowen & Zapata 2009). After the Mexican Revolution much of the land was redistributed to peasant communities under the ejido system or communal land tenure, where it was cared for under local guidance by ejidatarios (UNHabitat Report, 2015, Bowen & Gaytán 2012, Harvey 2007). This system has allowed for a large percentage of agriculturally productive land to remain under the control of local peasants. Since its inception, the ejido system has undergone significant regulatory changes. Many of these changes led to a considerable increase in investment by agro-business and multi-national
corporations, increasing the privatization and consolidation of land, and altering the composition of the rural Mexican landscape in the process.
The passage of the Agrarian Law in 1992 allowed for the sale of ejido land parcels (UNHabitat report 2015). Under the Presidency of Carlos Salinas, many ejidos were sold and thus privatized, as the era of Agrarian reform came to an end (UNHabitat report 2015, Barkin 1987, Harvey 2007). This remains a key turning point in the direction of future Mexican presidencies in regards to agricultural policy and private investment. David Harvey (2007) argues, “the corporatization, commodification and privatization, of hitherto public assets have been signal features of the neoliberal project” (35). The regulative changes to the sale of ejido land signaled a shift towards encouraging foreign investment in the Mexican agricultural industry. By allowing for once publicly held lands to be privatized the Mexican government, “open[ed] up new fields for capital accumulation in domains formerly regarded as off-limits” (Harvey 2007:35). In the Mexican context this not only signaled a move towards commoditizing once public assets, but a regression to a landscape more reminiscent to that of the Hacienda period, with large consolidated land holdings and landless peasant labor relationships being restored as agro-businesses bought up large swaths of productive lands.
Under changing agrarian policies, the protection of the environment shifted in many instances to corporate control, taking land away from local small-holders and placing it into the hands of foreign investors and agro-businesses. Neoliberal policies have therefore reduced the number of public and locally owned lands, diminishing peasant control and reducing rural communities’ stake in the agricultural economy. As rural agrarian communities have
increasingly been bought off arable lands, their ability to reproduce themselves has become more precarious, and their livelihoods less stable.
During this period of “opening up” the Mexican agricultural sector to foreign investment and international markets, workers’ movements were weakened. Much of the rural population
migrated to the cities as they were deemed redundant in the face of the ‘technologization’ of the agrarian infrastructure and investment by foreign capital (Bowen 2008, Harvey 2007, Otero 2004, Nugent & Alonso 1994). The farmers who remained in the countryside Maria Elena Martinez Torres (2004) explains, have been the hardest hit by neoliberal reforms (169). Martinez Torres elaborates,
The key features of neoliberal economic policies that have buffeted all Mexican farmers since the early 1980s have included massive cuts in support prices and subsidized credit, a generalized market opening to competition from cheap imports, and the privatization of technical assistance and support services including the supply of subsidized inputs, and the collection, transport, processing and marketing of crops (2004:169).
As Raul Delgado-Wise (2004) reiterates,
“painful structural adjustments imposed on Mexico and the rest of Latin America by the ruling classes acting in concert with different international agencies that serve the United States and the powerful interests it represents: the multinational corporations and banks…” (140)
represent just a few of many neoliberal reforms implemented in Mexico during the late 90s that have shaped and continue to shape the rural Mexican landscape.
The neoliberal policies supported by subsequent Mexican presidencies brought both labor and immigration policy in line with the USA and broader geopolitical interests (Delgado Wise & Marquez Covarrubias 2008). Delgado Wise and Marquez Cuvarrubias (2008) argue that these strategic policy choices have greatly affected the domestic economy and specifically Mexican labor, which has been “reduced and compelled to serve as a reserve of labor power for foreign capital” (142). The evidence of this within the tequila industry is visible when examining the net worth and consequently the sales of many of the largest tequila distilleries to multi-national spirits companies. Example of this are: Herradura—acquired by Brown-Foreman for 776 million in 2007 (USA), Avión—Pernod Ricard, acquired in 2014 (French), and Sauza—acquired in 2005
by Fortune Brands, now owned by Beam Suntory (USA), and Cazadores— acquired by Bacardi Corp. 2002 (Cuban), just to name a few.
David Harvey (2007) describes this “Neoliberalization” as accompanied by “increasing volatility within global capitalism,” where “waves of structural adjustments and austerity [have] led to economic paralysis” (34). While these adjustments have been devastating to the rural Mexican peasantry, Harvey explains they have been highly successful in restoring the class position of elites (2007:34). Where once many agave farmers sold their agaves direct to
distilleries or via intermediaries on the open market, now increasingly distilleries grow their own agave as land becomes actively consolidated into the hands of a few wealthy families or multi-national corporations, further crystalizing class status and economic divisions present within the Mexican countryside.
The ejido system, was important to sustaining a stable agrarian class throughout most of the 20th century. As exclusion from land ownership and agricultural profits instigated a call to action, culminating in the Mexican revolution, the post-revolutionary reforms allowed for peasant populations to maintain a stake in the rural economy. The ownership of arable lands generated income for subsistence or as a reserve in times of need. As the 20th century came to a close and the Washington Consensus gained momentum increasing the implantation of
neoliberal policies, changes to regulations regarding the sale of ejidos, created a point of entry for many foreign corporations into the Mexican agricultural sector. Poor peasants facing hardship often chose to sell off their plots to corporate interests, forever changing the rural landscape. In stating how the political and economic policies implemented by the Mexican government align with broader neoliberal shifts, I have attempted to set the stage for an
ethnographic analysis of artisanal tequila distilleries where class relations have been fortified and (re)produced within an economic environment influenced by these policies.
The Denomination of Origin and Construction of Discourse
The denominacion de origen (DO) was implemented in 1974 within the state of Mexico and is publicly owned (Bowen 2008, Bowen & Zapata 2009, Bowen & Gaytán 2012). The DO is premised upon a Geographical Indication (GI), the first manifestation of which was the AOC (Appellation d’origine controlée—French acronym) in France. Sarah Bowen in her extensive case study on tequila states the DO for tequila was established upon the Lisbon Agreement (2008:2) and stipulates,
the name of a geographical region of the country which serves to designate a product originating therein, the quality and characteristics of which are due exclusively to the geographical
environment, including natural and human factors (Article 156 of Industrial Property Law cited in Bowen 2008:2).
The recognition of the DO label by International institutions and nation-states11 ties tequila to Mexico in international markets. The DO label as a geographical indication signifies that geography is significant to producing a product that can be called tequila. The French notion of terroir underlies discursive arguments upon which many value labels are implemented. This notion is of historical significance for its role in the implementation of protections for French wines, Cognac, Italian cheeses and meats, just to name a few.
Elizabeth Barham (2003) explains, the notion of terroir refers to an area or terrain, usually rather small, whose soil and microclimate impart distinctive qualities to food products (131, Pratt 2007, Demossier 2011). Terroir, although is more than just terrain. By laying claim to
11 The DO for tequila is recognized in the USA, EU, throughout Latin America and recently was recognized
this concept national governments and producers alike recognize terroir signifies a link between humans and the natural landscape, “a complex dance with nature with the goal of interpreting or translating the local ecology, displaying its qualities to best advantage” (Barham 2003:131). National governments via regulation of these products have acknowledged the relationship of land, people, history, and culture. Regulations implemented at the domestic level must be confirmed at the international level via supra-national institutions such at the World Trade
Organization (WTO) or through agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The use of these values labels is contested in regards to whom they benefit most. In an attempt to tie culture, land, and food or spirits to a specific place, certain authors have claimed these regulations re-embedded goods within cultures and communities, combating the
“homogenizing effects” of neoliberal globalism (Barham 2003). Bowen and Zapata (2009) discuss value labels as attempta to, “…better connect producers and consumers, providing information (about the place of production, the people involved in production, and the methods employed) that allow the true environmental and social costs of production to be accounted for” (109). Bowen and Gaytán (2012) later argue against these labels stating, these “protections” are simply another tool for political and economic elites to profit (multi-nationals in this analysis). These authors therefore elucidate an inherent paradox within these protections. “DOs necessarily involve a contradiction: they seek to preserve and celebrate cultural processes that have
stabilized in a particular place, but they inherently involve transformation through the
importation of a global institutions” (Rangnekar in Bowen & Gaytán 2012: 270). It is only under a hegemonic economic ideology and with the recognition by supra-national institutions such at the WTO that these types of place-based labels exist and confer value. These value labels, rely
on the persistence of concepts aligned with the notion of terroir and the recognition by institutions of an economically productive connection between land, culture, products, and people.
Heritage
Heritage is often invoked when discussing artisan products deemed to be of cultural value. Artisanal tequila products often use the term to discuss their connection to Mexico and its history. Theoretical arguments on the growth of heritage in tourism, increases in the number of local food movements such as “Slow Food,” and the discourses used by these groups, inform a discussion of this term. Authors such as Pratt, Barham, Bessiere, Demossier, and Leitch have all contributed to addressing how heritage is constructed and utilized to inform a discourse and sustain local economies.
Bressiere argues heritage can be understood as a tool implemented to align the present with the past (1998), while Demossier (2011) explains that “terroir as rural heritage is often presented as, harmonious coherent, respectful, original, natural, threatened, a setting in which people, space, and time are organically connected (Filippuci 2004 in Demossier 2011:687). Heritage, as a discursive tool, is often employed upon the belief that it contains powerful cultural information on “tradition as the combination of representations, concepts, theoretical and
practical know-how, behaviour, attitudes, etc. that a group or a society accepts to ensure the continuity between past and present” (Nora 1993 in Bessiere 1998:26). Articulations of heritage are invoked to connect the past to the present vis-á-vis a rural identity premised on land and cultural knowledge. This identity may then be intimately tied to collective representations of a national past. The harmonious image that is constructed around goods that place heritage and its preservation at the forefront of their story, have found found protection under GI’s such as the
denomination of origin. Framing goods in relation to a national heritage has been a central element of many arguments on the implementation of value labels and a call to re-embedding products in local economies.
Leitch (2010) addresses identity formation in relation to the Slow Food Movement. She argues in post-industrial societies, where struggles for identity take place within the market, identity production and culture have become the favored means for political mobilization (2010:443). Movements such as Slow Food utilize a collective regional or national identity and cultural heritage as “socially productive excavations of the past” (Leitch 2010:454). Architects of discussions on tradition and heritage, “insist upon the intimate connections between economy and culture, the past and the future, fantasy and reality” (2010:454). By elaborating on the economic and cultural productivity of notions such as heritage, and identities formulated upon a collective heritage, these authors are examining the possibility that in post-modernity “nostalgia may be a socially productive force” (Leitch 2010:453). Thus heritage and tradition, as they are often represented in collaboration with one another, exemplify a social construction of the past in the present, where collective national identity, rural production, and terroir may be invoked to represent the local within the global economy.
Authenticity
The notion of authenticity will also play a critical role in assessing how distillery owning families craft, market, and legitimate their image. Authenticity is often associated with terms such as “real, genuine, original, or true” (Pratt 2007: 293). As Pratt (2007) argues, these
identifications become almost self-sufficient and the artisan or brand pursuing such connections no longer needs to frame or situate these claims in order for the consumer to comprehend their meanings; the social context and the associations may then be understood a priori. The discursive
trend now in use, which structures corporate food or beverages as those lacking quality; those that lack an association to any particular place and therefore any particular cultural moorings, may explain the reverse for locally owned and produced goods. Pratt states, “as a result it is [then] easy to reverse the equation and assume that local […] immediately connotes good quality, a logical fallacy encouraged by marketing techniques” (2007: 289). Through this framing, authentic, locally-made, artisanal products can craft an image for themselves that is situated upon this contrast between the local-global, modern-traditional, and artisanal-mass produced dialectic, all of which the consumer is poised to understand. As Pratt states this is a “pre-set discursive field” that producers can draw from to construct their image because of the dialectical relationship it presupposes (Pratt 2007:287). He further argues the concept of “the local” can be of “strategic importance” in constructing a product’s identity as authentic (288). By claiming to uphold local traditions within this pre-set discursive field, where the local is posited to pre-date the mass-produced and is therefore connected to past, nostalgic and authentic ways of livings, producers may rely on this concept to engage authenticity. For producers, building an understanding of authenticity in this manner, “provides a conceptual link between consumption and production” (2007:288).
Authenticity is therefore mapped onto the tequila itself, as well as the landscape, the workers, and the entire narrative. The subjectivity of authenticity is therefore fluid and can be utilized to economic ends. The meanings and discursive fields in which authenticity exists are constantly being crafted and reimagined so as to remain financially and socially productive. The one element which is consistent across narratives of authenticity is that these products remain defined against “modern mass culture” (2007:293).
authenticity, heritage, and tradition are premised upon the understanding of a point of “rupture” (Pratt 2007); a necessary break with the past. It is only through this rupture with past models and subsequently the existence of modern machines and new methods, that the tools and techniques of the past and the spirits or foods produce may now be valued for their authentic quality. When all producers used the now “artisanal” process this association with authenticity could not be made (Pratt 2007). It is therefore, those traditions which must be preserved or maintained in the face of modern machines and technologization, that signal an artisanal or authentic process. From this point producers may claim their process “pre-dates industrialization and its value is derived from that opposition” (2007: 294). It is only now, with the interference of modernity, and subsequently post-modernity, that sustaining a (re)connection to a nostalgic “past,” through valorizing and marketing certain elements of the tequila production process is possible and that these elements and their authenticity become accessible.
Protecting Value
The rupture exemplifies why value labels may be articulated as protections (Demossier 2011, Leitch 2010, Bessiere 1988). By protecting a shared past or culture through a foodstuff or beverage, articulating a connection to a national or regional heritage is an integral element in the discourse promoting protective labels. It must be further elaborated upon that these acts of preservation or protection are also about “establishing value in the political process” (Pratt 2007:296). Just as necessary therefore as the conceptualization of a “rupture,” is an engagement with the political process. It is in the political process where value must be established so that these goods and the processes of production remain preserved and protected via in the market. As addressed earlier, the value of these goods can only be recognized once their exchange value is recognized (Guthman 2007). Pratt discusses the political and the economic necessity of these
protections for producers in conversation with Marx. Fetishization and value are established in distinct moments,
Value has two moments: the creative action or energy, and the ‘congealed’ result of that action, stored in objects and localities. An actor looking at a valued object, a shell necklace, an heirloom, objectifies, reifies, the creative energy which has gone into its making or which it symbolizes (Pratt 2007:295).
Producers seeking to construct value therefore attempt to bring to the fore the congealed value through the construction of a discourse around authenticity and heritage; unveiling the symbolic importance of the good in doing so. This is attended to by constructing a image and a narrative upon heritage, tradition, and authenticity, as well as politically, through establishing the value of these goods via labels and regulations in the global market.
Demossier (2011) also explains that the use of terroir as a discursive tool, is at its root about protection (688). Leitch similarly states that many of the arguments used by the Slow Food Movement were premised on ideas about preservation and protection from the “homogenizing practices of post-industrial capitalism” (Leitch 2010:440). The use of terroir thus represents a tool used to negotiate protections and establish value for regional goods by local actors in order to navigate between the local and the global thus securing economic viability. The construction of these terms: heritage, tradition, and authenticity must be tied notions of preservation, shared culture and history, as well as protecting economies, markets and producers. An engagement across spheres of influence is needed in order to assess how artisanal tequila producers market their tequila and what is left out or hidden in this process.
Research Question(s):
1. What role do the owners of artisanal tequila distilleries play in
contributing to the rural economic livelihood of their workers?
a. How is a craft narrative upheld, articulated, and economized within
a global market?
b. What role does the Denominación de Origen (DO) play in the
success of craft tequila?
c. What shifts have taken place within the rural agrarian
communities?
d. What have been the effects of neoliberalism on the labor market in
the tequila producing regions?
e. What is the relation between gender and the reproduction of a
worker identity?
f. Do workers make up a distinct class? How can this class be
identified?
g. What are the class dynamics between owners and workers?
h. How is class reinforced within the distillery communities?
i. Does a claim to re-embedding markets in local contexts benefit
Methods, Population, and Setting
The information collected and presented in the following ethnographic project was gathered over the course of three months, June through September 2016 in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The fieldwork took place in three locations: Tequila-Amatitán Valley, Los Altos region, and Guadalajara. Research was conducted in five different small-scale, family owned, artisanal tequila distilleries, yet the majority of my information and interlocutors came from extensive time spent in two distilleries: Casa Rivera Tequila—produced in Destilería Estrella, and
Caballero Tequila—Destilería Terreno de Oro. Interviews and informal conversations were held with workers and owners across all five distilleries. Most of my interlocutors were men between the ages of 20-50. Although I did have a few female interlocutors, the majority of all distillery workers were men, thus the issues of male workers will remain the focus of this research.
The information was in most instances collected within the distillery setting, though I did interact with workers in social and familial settings outside of the workplace. Informal chats while residing in the home of a working class Mexican family in a barrio of Guadalajara, provided insights into many broader themes affecting working class populations throughout the state of Jalisco. Information was collected in formal structured interviews, where it was
necessary, in unstructured conversations, through observations as well as through participant-observation. The majority of data was collected by establishing and building close relationships with informants, similar to what many anthropologists have termed “deep hanging out” (Geertz 1998). Information was collected during meals, home visits, and whilst discussing the mundane features of everyday life with many of the workers. By building relationships in such a manner, over the course of three months, workers opened up and discussed some of their most personal issues—from jealousy in relationships, infertility, and drinking habits, to personal beliefs about
the political and economic status of Mexico. Workers often elaborated on their immediate community, future aspirations and goals thus allowing me to understand many of the hopes and fears of their day-to-day existence.
With the distillery owners and those in positions of authority I conducted formal, structured interviews. All Interviews were recorded with structured questions. In Los Altos, at Casa Rivera Tequila, I conducted multiple interviews over the course of three months with family members working at different levels within the distillery. This style allowed me to build upon my previous questions and information gathered while in the field. Interviews were conducted in both Spanish and English, although the majority of interviews conducted with owners and their families were done in English. Interviews conducted with the workers and their families were always done in Spanish.
Semi-formal interviews were conducted on multiple occasions with mid-level employees and distillery workers. These interviews were in many cases not based on a pre-set number of
questions but on a general topic of conversation. Within the distilleries, because of the nature of the environment (workers were working, while I was observing), I was not able to pull people aside and conduct formal interviews. I refer therefore, to what took place as conversations or informal chats. These chats would often begin through a question I posed about a specific topic. The conversation would then flow in any matter of directions based on the responses or
disposition of the interlocutor. Often other workers would join in the conversation, allowing me to access multiple perspectives in one discussion.
Observation and participant-observation played a large part in analyzing the physicality of the distillery work, as well as the interaction between workers, their superiors, and the
product/production process. Most of my time was spent watching the agave reception area. I observed the men who worked in this area chop, load, unload, grind, clean, and rest. In Tequila, at Caballero Tequila, the majority of my time was spent observing bottling, cleaning, labeling, packaging as well as chopping, loading, unloading and cleaning. I stipulate participant
observation because in both tequila and Los Altos I took part in different aspects of the process. In the distillery of Caballero Tequila, I worked daily alongside the employees, labeling, bottling, and packaging shipments. I was able to chat informally with the employees about a number of different topics while working. At Caballero Tequila I also observed the office personnel interact with the CRT (Tequila regulatory council—Spanish acronym).
2. Constructing an Image: Craft identity in artisanal tequila
The regions of Tequila and Los Altos, along with the culture and history of Jalisco and Mexico play key roles in the construction of a prominent tequila identity. The identity and messages established to pursue a craft identity rely on images of workers, the landscape, and the type of process used within the distillery. This chapter will assess how these messages are constructed and on what culturally resonant images a craft identity relies.
In recent years smaller, artisanal tequila distilleries, all of whom create 100% agave
products, have seen the demand for their products increase, as both the popularity of tequila as a spirit surges, as well as the popularity of what a spirits connoisseur would deem “quality” tequila12 or
100% puro (pure) agave tequila. A craft tequila13 is therefore defined as being produced using a slower, less mechanized process and therefore demands more hands-on interaction from workers.
A craft tequila distillery utilizes certain tools or processual
elements, which began to be used into use from the mid 1900s onwards (Informant Interview June 2016). This process is different from that of larger distilleries many of whom employ a diffusor, which first came into use during the early
12 Opinion given by owner of Casa Rivera Tequila, a lifelong teacher of the differences between tequila types,
and an individual who is well connected to spirits connoisseurs worldwide.
13 Throughout this project the terms craft and artisanal will be used interchangeably.
Figure 5. Open Wooden Fermentation Tanks. Casa Rivera Tequila. Author's Photo
2000s (Informant Interview, May 2016). This machine is used in large production distilleries such as Cuervo or Sauza (authors observations).
Craft tequila is produced using copper or stainless steal alambiques (stills), open air wooden, concrete or steal fermentation tanks, and brick or stone masonry ovens that cook using steam pressure14. Copper or stainless steal alambiques take longer to distill the fermented juices of the agave, whereas column stills, which have been implemented in many of the larger,
mass-production distilleries are now used for their speed, and cost effectiveness (Sauza Tour, July 2016). In continuing to use copper or stainless steal
alambiques a craft distillery requires more workers to attend to the process. As the overall process is less
mechanized it demands greater attention to administer each step.
These elements cannot stand alone in discerning what is craft from what is not. The marketing of an image, and a (his)story is necessary to translate to the consumer why these elements are of value, what they imbue to the product, and why this narrative is something worth investing in. It is therefore not necessarily the process that is of importance in defining craft, but the narrative premised on these elements, the workers, and the land—encompassing a full picture. This image can then be upheld in contrast to other mass production distilleries.
14 There are many small variations to the process between craft distilleries, but all of them this process to some
extent or another.
The image of the jimador, an indigenous name for an agave harvester (Bowen 2008) can be seen in statues and murals throughout Tequila. Many companies advertise their tequila using antiquated imagery of the jimador, dressed in all white with a red neck scarf next to a donkey loaded up with piñas (cut agave) in el campo (countryside)15. The towns of Tequila and Arandas16 are home to many families with historical ties to the cultivation of agave. In the distillery of Casa Rivera Tequila, most of the workers were taught by their fathers, and similar to the owning families themselves, these workers have a historical presence in tequila production. For example, Samir and Alejandro, distillers at Casa Rivera Tequila, both come from families who have worked in the distillery since its inception. At Caballero tequila, father and daughter who work side-by-side in el envasado (bottling). The presence of families within these
distilleries is replicated amongst owning families, whose sons and daughters, brother and sisters, hold many of the highest administrative positions in the company, as well as orbital roles as land-owners and/or board members.
The family-owned, family-worked environment within these distilleries is something upheld as an integral to the production of quality tequila. At Casa Rivera Tequila, during a structured interview with Emanuel Rivera, third generation owner of the company, he argued this was something he was extremely proud of.
“I don’t know if we have done right or wrong but I think that we are not such a bad employer. As you have already seen they [the workers] come to work here and they will remain here for all of their life. And they will bring their kids and their grandkids also. That means that they have tattooed the logo of the company on their heart and they want to bring in the rest of the family to be part of this same thing. What is the very good part besides the sense of pride that we have of that, is that we don’t have all of these learning curves. Because we have very very low personal rotation. They remain here. We don’t have to worry that they will go the following week and who
15 I suggest that this is a classic, or antiquated personification because from my experience in the fields workers do not dress in this manner presently, except in instances of tourist events, and donkeys are seldom still used.
is going to perform that job. Do I need to train other people and all that. No, they will be here” (Informant Interview, June, 2016).
Not only then does the presence of families and the passage of knowledge from one generation to the next alleviate the cost of training new employees, but the owner and his marketing team may also present the product as family owned and family made. Presenting the tequila in such a light situates production within a naturally occurring generational passage of familial knowledge. What makes certain distilleries artisan is therefore an ownership by “locals,” those who can establish a connection to tequila within their family, a specific process, and the passage of knowledge about the production process from family member to family member, all within the “native” landscape of tequila. The artisanal narrative is premised upon a seemingly harmonious and naturally reoccurring cycle of tequila production that has existed as such for generations.
The importance of design
The costs [in the tequila industry] are very high. The other thing I have found in the past, eventually even with the small changes, specifically the Latin people and Mexican people are very, how do you say, distrustful. They see something slightly different, they think oh the product is not the same. They think oh they did not just change the label or the bottle, they changed it all, the product does not taste the same, it is not the same, they are doing tricks. So again we have remained specifically with Casa Rivera to the original design my grandfather did almost 80 years ago. Very small, subtle changes, but preserving all the time the identity of the brand instead of re-launching the brand with a new concept. We have been very careful on that. Therefore, we have in that aspect been very traditional. (Emanuel Rivera, Structured Interview, 2016).
The significance of the design and image exemplifies how particular temporal and financial expenditures are required to sustain an artisanal tequila image. The daughter of Emanuel Rivera, Elena Rivera, who is currently the head of marketing, was given a budget of one million pesos (approximately 44,000 euros) for the year of 2016 (Structured Interview, August 2016). Marketing, Elena explained is a big expense for a small, family run business. This
expense sharply contrasts the the annual salary of the fabrica workers which is between 78,000 to 119,600 pesos (3,400 to 5,200 euros annually). Elena explained these expenses are necessary in order to appeal to new markets and “modernize” the design (Structured Interview, August 2016). In these new markets, she explained it is the history and the process that need to translate to the consumer, alongside the “innate quality.” The innate quality which she argues stems from the production process within the hands of men who have performed these jobs for generations (Structured Interview, August 2016).
Elena became the head of the marketing department in 2014 directly from University under her father’s leadership. Her position, she explained is “new,” as prior to the recent surge in 100% tequila, the family sold most of their products in Mexico in limited quantities in the
USA. The expansion to Europe has been a new step for the company and brought on new challenges in their “branding, logo design, and message” (Structured Interview, August 2016). Elena explained this success and expansion is the justification for investing heavily in marketing.
Elena is currently expanding marketing through social media by photographing and placing at the fore of the Casa Rivera marketing campaign the workers’ hands to represent “hecho a mano” (hand-made) nature of their products. By placing worker interaction with the product as the center point of the campaign, Casa Rivera displays this interaction between workers, agave, and process as what imbues their tequila with quality and value. This can be
seen throughout the town of Arandas where “hecho a mano” is the slogan alongside the image of Casa Rivera Tequila. During the dia de la patria (Independence Day) celebrations the town was decorated thanks in large part to the sponsorship of the distillery, making explicit the connection between Casa Rivera tequila, Mexican history, and the local community. These decorations were in addition to permanent advertisements on buildings and signs flanking the main highway leading in and out of town.
The marketing budget negotiated between Emanuel Rivera and his daughter for 2016 sheds light on the financial expenditures necessary to sustain the connections between the product and craft narrative. Emanuel elaborated further by saying,
“Everybody wants to jump onto the tequila train. So, in order to get into the market, they would go to the wholesalers, the distributors and offer them a lot of things and that kind of disturbed the market. The other thing is that it is not real competition, but there are not just 70 brands of tequila in the market as there were 25 years ago. Now you have 1300 brands in the market. You have to make some noise otherwise nobody will notice you. So it is not those times where my product can be recommended from mouth to ear. Now you have to keep investing in marketing and concept in order to be visible. And so the people don’t forget that you exist as a brand. So it is a good chunk of cost” (Emanuel Rivera, Informant Interview, September 2016).
The pressure to increase marketing budgets in order to stand out from the pack within an expanding tequila market is therefore a motivating factor in employing foreign marketing firms and expanding marketing campaigns. This is understood as justification by both Elena and her father for the tremendous increase in investment into marketing. These expenditures are
simultaneously then explained as justifications for why certain company costs, workers’ wages for example, remain so low; they are perceived to be of less importance in pursuing the artisanal narrative than a cohesive and current brand image. As Emanuel also stated, the workers he presumes, regardless of wages, are not going anywhere as generation after generation work at his distillery (Structured Interview, June 2016).
In recent years there has been a surge in international investors buying into the craft tequila market (Informant Interview, September 2016) as well as multi-national corporations buying shares or acquiring brands to add to their portfolios (Bowen & Gaytán 2012). For smaller, family-owned, artisanal distilleries, it is a legitimate concern that if do not get into the right bars, reach the right consumers with the right message, that you will be lost amongst the fray (Emanuel Rivera, structured Interview, June 2016). The quality of the product is only one element of an overall story. As Emanuel Rivera discussed, small brands can no longer rely on a “word of mouth” style reputation. With over 1300 brands in the market, it is the entire crafting of an image, a story, coupled with consumer education that will make a product stand out as a “quality craft tequila.”
Creating a Niche Clientele
Educating the consumer is another essential element of the construction of an artisanal narrative. The consumer must be educated on what elements to look for in a quality tequila, and primed to purchase tequilas with these elements. The consumer must be educated on what value certain elements imbue in a tequila, such as a copper still, or wild yeast, otherwise the message will not resonate. Emanuel Rivera and other distillery owners have therefore dedicated much of their lives to traveling the world and giving talks, educating the consumer and bartender so they can sell quality, authentic, artisanal tequila (their tequila), and understand why certain elements create a better product.
The son and owner of Caballero Tequila, Roberto and David Cruz reiterated the importance of education and reputation. Caballero Tequila in cooperation with two other local craft distilleries provides an all-expenses paid trip for bartenders from around the world to come and visit the distilleries and work for a week, participating in all the various aspects of the
production process. I encountered many of these, “traveling bartenders” during my research. All of these individuals were very interested in craft tequilas, those they deemed to be of the highest quality and truest to the concept of an “original” product though their maintenance of
“traditional” processes (Informal chats July-September 2016). These bartenders were invited on these informational trips by the owning families. The goal of these trips is that should bartenders experience, learn and understand how the process works, and how embedded within the local context these distilleries present themselves to be, the visitors will propagate the narrative via word of mouth, reproducing the authentic reputation. David Cruz, the owner’s son and current head of marketing and sales at Caballero Tequila, explained that these trips are paid for by the distillery in the hopes of creating bartenders who are loyal to the brand because they have “been there” (Informant Interview, August, 2016). These bartenders therefore understand because they have participated in the process the value of artisanal tequila and all that the image stands to represent.
Generational Reproduction
Another element of sustaining the artisanal image is the retention of families in specific positions within the fabrica (factory or distillery). Aquiles, the supervisor of the fabrica piso (floor supervisor) at Casa Rivera expressed that the owners asked the current distillers to train their children in the methods of distillation. When questioned as to why this should be, as many of the patio workers already in the distillery had expressed a desire to learn how to distill (one of the more technical parts, if not the most, in the entire production process), Aquiles, amongst other employees explained because is it because the owners want to reproduce una familia de destiladores (one family of distillers). Enrique and Sergio, two patio employees had both asked
to be trained and had received no response. They argued this is because the owners want to continue with the image of “tres generaciones” (three generations) in distillation.
The importance of familial transmission is therefore actively maintained to uphold the artisanal narrative. The knowledge of “tres generaciones” can then be presented as saturating the tequila quality and authenticity. The generational passage of information is therefore one of the key facets of the narrative, maintained by owning families who had asked these distillers to train their sons. These men may then be proudly displayed via marketing, or propped up when a visitor comes to the distillery. Emanuel Rivera reiterated the importance of the the familial ambiance and generational passage of knowledge during an interview. He explained this as part of the heritage of the distillery, something he, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, and has actively cultivated within the distillery.
“I think everything started with my grandfather, then my father, now me. We have always kind of seen this as a family business. Which doesn’t necessarily mean it is family owned. It is a family business because it is the same families of people who used to work with my grandfather. Their descendants worked for my father and their descendants for me. We have people who are the third, a few that are fourth generation of the same family working here” (Informant Interview, September, 2016).
Although the image presented by the owning family is one where this transmission of knowledge and reproduction of workers occurs naturally, in the distillation area, active
intervention is needed to reinforce the three generations to reproduce itself. There is no concern given to other workers who are interested in learning and taking on these positions. The quote above therefore contradicts the lived experiences of workers within the distillery. While it is certainly true that family members do bring their sons and even daughters to work in the fabrica, statements by workers describe their inability to climb the hierarchy of positions within the distillery because of the owning families’ activities to perpetuate an artisanal image.
As Emanuel Rivera addressed, the “family run, family worked” makeup of the distillery now appears to reproduce itself naturally. The craft identity is premised upon the familial
passage of knowledge and its appearance as natural, harmonious, and occurring organically from one generation to the next. Owning families push to the fore of their brand image a connection with and support for the local community and its families. This is often presented in
juxtaposition with the environment of a corporate distillery where, “the erosion of the ‘natural’ connection between place and culture” is presented to have taken place (Demossier 2011:687). By situating the details of the distillery at the front of an advertising platform, these owners exemplify what Demossier describes as, “asserting and justifying the differences at local and even micro levels” (2011:689) to substantiate their artisanal identity. Ultimately, she explains, this is about “acquiring social, economic and political benefits from such claims” (2011:689). It is in pursuit of profits that distillery owners market the minute details of the distillery
environment.
From the educational speaking events done by the owners, the bartenders who are brought from new markets to participate in and observe the “traditional” process, to the active involvement by the owners in maintaining families in important distillery positions, all these elements are utilized to craft an authentic, artisanal tequila image.
Tequila Families and the preservation knowledge
“
Vamos en un barco. Si se hunda nos vamos a hundir todos, el que va adelante, o el que va atrás, si nos vamos a floté, vamos a navigar todos juntos” (We all go in one boat. If the boat sinks we all sink,the ones in the front or the ones in the back, if we are going to float we are all have to navigate together.) -Patron Roberto Cruz, Caballero Tequila
For these wealthy Mexican families, the image of them working side-by-side their employees, as existing and taking part in the happenings of the same rural communities as the trabajadores (workers) is a necessary element to upholding the craft image. The preservation of the historical narrative relies on the vision of the owners as part of these rural communities; on a suspension of belief by the consumer that the consolidation of land, increasing ability of these families to access credit and expand exports to new markets, is not an exclusionary process. By conceptualizing themselves as the necessary element in the preservation of tequila heritage, on behalf of consumers and for the benefit of the industry as a whole, wealthy distillery owning families subsume the vast socio-economic divide that continues to grow between themselves and their employees. This appeal undermines the tangible and temporal issues that have created this divide.
Bessiere (1998) argues the forms of heritage production consist of,
“actualizing, adapting, and re-interpreting elements from the past of a given group (its
knowledge, skills and values), in other words combining conservation and innovation, stability and dynamism, reproduction and creation, and consequently giving a new social meaning which generates identity” (27).
In constructing an artisanal identity, owning families present themselves as integral parts of the conservation and growth of craft tequila. The skills, knowledge, and values owning families have
bestowed upon their tequila via their history in the industry may then be passed onto the consumer. The preservation of a traditional production process, quality agave cultivation practices, and the employment of local families are credited to owning families. By sustaining these practices owning families position themselves as having conserved authentic, quality tequila in the face of modernization. Emanuel Rivera through traveling and giving informational talks on tequila is understood as a pillar of knowledge and conserver of tequila history.
The owners, in the artisanal narrative, are those who may disperse traditional knowledge to the public; reputable sources of historical information on quality tequila. The owner is
understood as the keystone of preservation. This is similar to what Demossier observed in France between the vignerons (peasants) and negotiants (wealthy elites). She explains that through the construction of a “niche clientele” these elite entrepreneurs, “exercise their leadership by setting local norms and standards of quality through the ideology of terroir” (2011:690).It is through the placement of the owner and his family as the gatekeepers to assessing quality and sustaining a connection to the land that traditional techniques and processes are understood to be preserved. The owner in this narrative becomes the guarantee of quality for the consumer (Demossier 2011).
David Cruz of Caballero Tequila stated what sets the artisanal distilleries apart from corporate distilleries is the recognition and presence of the families within the local communities. He elaborated that,
“the big companies, they aren’t here. Cuervo is owned by Mexicans, but they are never here. Olmeca, owned by Pernod Ricard, you never see those guys. Here in the town, in the day-to-day you never see the big guys. Even in the meetings for the CNIT (National Chamber of the Tequila Industry—Spanish acronym) you never see the CEOs or the high executives” (Structured
David Cruz thus argues that it is the connection and direct involvement with the local community that sets his family apart from companies owned by corporations—described by contrast to be disconnected from the local context. David Cruz therefore reiterates the argument made by Pratt upholding that it is in opposition to the position of the corporate companies through which artisanal tequila companies and owning families define themselves. Reproducing the binary between the local and the global, a binary reinforced by owning families to substantiate the narrative of owners and workers embedded in a local context, upholding a harmonious local economy.
Establishing that the relationship between owners and community is a critical element in validating the narrative. Richard Handler explains the importance of authenticity is not in defining the object itself, but instead, “about its relationship to a posited social and cultural identity” (2015:251). Attempts by owners to position themselves as part of the rural communities elucidates that it is imperative to the authentication of the artisanal narrative to substantiate a relationship between themselves and the local community. The owners of Caballero Tequila therefore present themselves as friends and allies of the workers, chatting and cracking jokes with workers when visitors arrive from out of town, but are seldom around from day-to-day when no visitors are present.
In establishing themselves as part of the local tequila producing context, owning families may position themselves as the intermediary or translator; taking locally held knowledge and translating it to the global market. Education and an authentic image are essential to creating and accessing a consumer base or “niche market” who are to uphold and further disperse the
knowledge of the owner. Pratt (2007) argues that the existence of quality local goods is made possible by “a wider market, since they are either exported or consumed by galloping gourmets:
either the food [spirit] or the consumer must travel” (292). While owning families claim to be super localized, they must also engage with the global; recognizing and sustaining a relationship with aficionados and global elites, who through engagement with the owners, provide the
network and “niche” clientele needed to support artisanal tequila in a broader global market. The owners are therefore, “figure[s] synthesizing the ambiguous paradoxes of global and regional identities” (Demossier 2011:696). Emanuel Rivera has done many joint projects with
aficionados, one of which is so successful it is still in production today. He is also an established figure in many spirits and tequila connoisseurs’ networks as this is imperative to the success of his brand.
The necessity of niche clientele and the importance of “traveling gourmets” to the artisanal tequila market and therefore the owning families, is evident through the recent creation of a new tequila category: Extra Añejo (Extra aged). This new category tequila is aged for more than three years and sells at the highest price point. If one cares to observe tequila forums or international spirits awards, this category is often compared to and discussed in terms normally reserved for aged brandy or cognac. Emanuel Rivera explained this new category, first
designated as an official age in 2006, as a way to incorporate new consumers, those who normally drink scotch or cognac, and persuade them to try tequila (Structured Interview, June 2016). This category, aged in some cases for ten years17, is often described in relation to the wood of the barrel, where the wood and the qualities it imbues to the aged agave take precedence, aligning this discourse with those of wine and other aged spirits.
This new category can be analyzed as the pinnacle of changes deemed permissible by owning families in order to expand profits and gain clientele. This category also exemplifies the
constructed nature of the artisanal discourse where a new and highly modern category can be marketed as authentic, quality and traditional after a few years in existence. This new category exemplifies an attempt by owning families to expand tequila consumption to new consumers and tap into a broader “high end spirit” niche market. By constructing this new category in a specific discourse, owning families and craft distilleries remain true to tequila “tradition” while creating new avenues for product expansion.
