This plant, the agave, grows well in the sandy soils of the Tequila Valley, a few kilometres west of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco. I visited the distillation plant in the small town of Amatitan where the first production of tequila alcoholic drink was ever made. Its production was started in 1870 as a family venture, The Hacienda San Jose del Refugio de casa de Tequila Herradura. Even though, it has been bought by Jack Daniels, the same family, the descendants of Sergio Pena, still administers the quality production of tequila, known as the best in the world. Tequila is produced by removing the heart of the plant in its twelfth year, normally weighing between 35-90 kg. This heart is stripped of ITS spiky blue-teal leaves and heated to remove the sap, which is fermented and distilled. (In this photo the heart have been cut in half before boiling). Over 200 million plants of blue agave plants are grown in this region; it's unique in the world, named appropriately a world heritage by UNESCO in 2006. Cheers!