La Alteña Enters a New Technology of Tequila Making With Its First Feminine Grasp Distiller

Carlos Camarena, one of the iconic figures on the earth of tequila for a number of a long time, is stepping down because the grasp distiller and CEO of El Tesoro and Tapatio, the 2 manufacturers made on the household’s La Alteña distillery, and handing the reins over to his youthful sister, Jenny Camarena. “We want youthful individuals to run issues,” he mentioned throughout the announcement on the household’s distillery within the highlands of Jalisco. “I feel it’s good to go issues over to the youthful individuals, and put together for the following generations to maintain on taking up on this household.” 

It’s not fairly a generational shift, since Jenny is Carlos’ sister, however with a 24-year age distinction between them, she’s nearer in age to Carlos’ youngsters than to their different siblings. Carlos is remaining on the helm of Tequila Ocho, which is now being produced at its personal distillery.

Working within the household enterprise — La Alteña opened in 1937, by which level the household had been rising and harvesting agave for many years — wasn’t at all times within the playing cards for Jenny Camarena. She studied structure in school and had began working at an structure agency earlier than returning to the fold and becoming a member of the distilling workforce in 2015. Discuss of transition started about 5 years in the past, in accordance with Jenny. “We have been having a gathering, and the query popped,” she remembers. “Then [the other family members] requested. It was like, ‘Are you even thinking about persevering with with this?’ And I mentioned that it could be an honor to proceed with this. My coronary heart and soul have been already right here.”

Since then, Carlos has groomed Jenny to succeed him at La Alteña, whether or not or not it was obvious on the time. “As a result of I see him actually typically in our relationship, nothing modified,” she says. “I felt that, I don’t even understand how, in some unspecified time in the future, there have been issues that he was not doing anymore, and I used to be like, ‘Oh, I am doing them now,’ and I did not even really feel at what level it occurred. So it has been actually easy. Very sneaky, too…. I feel that he is aware of that if he was, like, ‘Right here it’s, take it,’ I’d collapse a bit bit. So he was good sufficient to simply let it occur.”

Jenny Camarena is the fourth grasp distiller within the 88-year historical past of La Alteña — her grandfather and father preceded Carlos, who had been on the helm since 1995. Earlier than her function change, she was head of operations on the distillery. 

“I felt like I knew the whole lot that I wanted to know,” she says. “In the present day, I’m not in the identical place. I’m not sitting in the identical desk. I’m making extra choices. I’ve to be smarter, and I’ve to contemplate so many different points that, at that second, weren’t affecting my little bubble.” On the identical time, she provides, “I’ve extra confidence now than 5 years in the past, and for certain, it’s thrilling. Possibly at one other second. I couldn’t deliver that many concepts or make choices, and it’s highly effective to have the ability to attain that time. That’s superb.”

Her job is twofold — to protect the custom of tequila making embodied by earlier generations at La Alteña, whereas additionally innovating and making her personal mark. On the high of her to-do checklist is an growth of high-proof tequila choices. Tapatio 110, a 55% ABV blanco, was one of many first greater proof tequilas in the marketplace, however she’d wish to discover additional. 

“I really like the flavour and the depth,” she says. “Not solely in blanco, however with the aged expressions. I feel that we may get superb issues. The ability that now we have inside El Tesoro with totally different barrels from totally different distilleries [exemplified in the Mundial series of limited editions], perhaps combining them with a high-proof expression, may very well be actually fascinating. I’m not prepared to vary something drastically,” she clarifies. “I’d by no means do this. However for certain, why not discover extra of the tales of the method and the agave?”

La Alteña has at all times been family-run, so Jenny is worked up {that a} member of the clan is taking her place as head of distillery operations. “After I delegated my place because the director of operations, my nephew Rigoberto was like, ‘I’m . Can I strive?’ And I don’t have any youngsters but, so perhaps it was too quickly to assume, ‘Oh, after which who’s who’s after me?’ And the truth that I may have my nephews on board…. Okay, so the story continues.”

Carlos Camarena can also be staying on by way of 2025 as a advisor to verify the transition goes easily. She could have large sneakers to fill, however as he instructed Jenny on the announcement of the transition, “Don’t attempt to fill anybody else’s sneakers. Use your individual sneakers and make your individual path.” 

“I’ll,” Jenny responded. “Possibly subsequent to yours, however I’ll.”