Cooking

Mature agave piñas are slowly cooked in traditional brick and stone ovens for 28 hours. This slow cooking caramelizes the natural sugars and develops the rich, sweet flavors of cooked agave. After cooking, the agave is left to cool naturally in the oven to preserve its full aromatic profile.

Line illustration of the stone brick oven where agave piñas are slow-cooked

Workers loading agave piñas into the brick oven at El Pandillo, where G4 Tequila is cooked

Milling

Felipestein

At the heart of G4 Tequila’s unique production process is an ingenious creation by master distiller Felipe Camarena: a custom-built tahona affectionately called “Felipestein.”

This innovative milling machine is made from repurposed industrial parts, including the axle of an old railroad car and the base of a steamroller. Despite its Frankenstein origins, it plays a crucial role in preserving tradition while enhancing efficiency.

How it works?

Massive Weight, Gentle Crush: Felipestein weighs over 19,000 lbs but runs on just a 1-horsepower motor, thanks to its clever design and heavy construction. It rolls along rail tracks, slowly crushing cooked agave with precision and consistency.

Tahona Effect, Modernized: While not a traditional volcanic stone wheel, it mimics the gentle crushing motion of a tahona, extracting juices without shredding the agave fibers preserving the rich natural flavors.

Built by Hand, With Heart: Felipe personally built Felipestein at his El Pandillo distillery using only salvaged materials, making it a symbol of both ingenuity and sustainability.

The Felipestein roller mill at El Pandillo and the shredded agave fiber it leaves behind

Water

Line illustration of a stone aqueduct arch

Line illustration of a stainless steel tank beside a wooden fermentation vat

Stainless Steel Tanks (94%): provide a clean, controlled fermentation.

Wooden Vats (6%): offer a slower, richer fermentation with subtle oxygenation and natural interaction with the wood.

Fermentation

The extracted agave juice (mosto) undergoes natural fermentation using wild yeasts from the local environment, no commercial yeasts, chemicals, or accelerants are added.

Fermentation takes place in two types of vessels: stainless steel and wooden tanks.

Distillation

The fermented mosto is distilled twice in traditional copper pot stills, a method that retains the agave’s aromatic intensity while removing impurities.

First distillation (“ordinario”) removes volatile compounds.

Second distillation (“tequila”) refines the spirit to its final, clean form.

Copper allows for better heat control and interaction with the alcohols, yielding a smooth, bold, and expressive tequila.