Batida

The batida process is one of the more mystical in the tequila world. The word translates literally as “beating” or “thrashing,” which is a good hint to how it is applied to tequila production. Just like wine’s great tradition of crushing grapes by foot, the batida is an old-fashioned method of rendering the agave fiber. In this case, the distiller gets into the fermentation tank nude with the agave fibers to arrange them into the layers that he wants.

As with many practices, like biodynamic wine production and crushing grapes by foot, it’s not clear whether these traditions have an empirical impact on flavor of the final product. At the very least, these practices demonstrate dedication on the part of the creator and testify to just how personally invested they are in every detail of production. The practice is very rare, though still kicking.