From field to horno: the first Awevo harvest
By the Awevo team. Published October 25, 2026.
The first agave for Awevo was cut between June 24 and June 27, 2026, in the fields around Destiladora Refugio in El Arenal, Jalisco. We were there for it. This is what those four days looked like.
The jima
Harvesting agave is called the jima, and the men who do it are jimadores. It looks simple from a distance. It isn't.
The tool is the coa, a long wooden pole with a flat, round, very sharp blade on the end. A jimador cuts the plant free at the root, then works around it trimming off the pencas, the long spiky leaves, until what's left is the piña, the heart. It looks a bit like a giant pineapple. Some are heavy enough that lifting one onto your shoulder takes real effort.
They make it look easy. Watch for ten minutes and you'll see how much skill goes into each cut.
Blue Weber agave takes years to grow before it's ready, so the plants cut that week went into the ground long before Awevo had a name. Every one of them was cut by hand.
Into the trucks
Trimmed piñas get piled at the end of the rows and loaded onto trucks. Late June in Jalisco is hot, and the rains are on their way. From the fields the trucks head back to Refugio, which is right there in El Arenal.
At the distillery the piñas are unloaded into big piles in the yard, then split so they'll cook evenly.
Into the hornos
This is the part we care about most. Refugio cooks in hornos, traditional masonry ovens. Workers carry the split piñas in and stack them by hand until the oven is full, then the door is sealed.
Our agave cooks for 48 hours at 180°F. Two full days. When the hornos open, the piñas have gone from pale and hard to dark, soft and sweet, and the whole yard smells like it. If you want the long version of why we cook this way, and how it compares with autoclaves and diffusers, read Hornos vs. autoclave.
After the cook
The cooked agave is crushed to release the juice. The juice ferments, then it's distilled. Since Awevo is a blanco, it isn't aged in barrels. What you taste is the agave, the cook and the distillery.
What comes next
That June harvest is the tequila going into our first bottles. Awevo is set to launch in San Diego on December 1, 2026 (target date), in bars, restaurants and shops. We'll post each one on the where-to-buy page. We don't sell tequila online.
Want to know more about where the agave grows? See The agave fields of El Arenal. Quick facts are in the FAQ.
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