aye.creator
There is an art and craftsmanship behind making tequila. As the head of spirits and master blender for the new La Pulga brand in Fort Worth, Ale Ochoa knows all of the details that go into their premium tequila. Working alongside other Fort Worth entrepreneurs including real estate developer Stephen Slaughter, Pequeño Mexico operator Andrew De La Torre and Taco Heads founder Sarah Castillo, Ale has the skills and support she needs to help make tequila that is truly special.
MANY PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE THAT... there’s a science behind spirit production. What plant you use, how it grows, how you process it, how you need to cook it to extract the sugars — even the yeast you use is going to change the flavors you impart in the final product.
LA PULGA EMPHASIZES... traditional agave made and distilled in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. My parents are from Mexico, so being able to work with a spirit that originated where my parents were born and raised is really special. As a first-generation Mexican-American, it gave me an opportunity to tap a little more into my history and heritage and get deeper in touch with my roots.
WE PRIMARILY OFFER... three types of tequila — Blanco, Reposado and Anejo. Blanco isn’t aged at all and has a crisp agave flavor that isn’t overly powerful. Reposado has a soft oak and vanilla flavor, and ours is aged for a minimum of seven months. Anejo has some bourbon notes and is aged in a barrel for 18 months. We don’t rush things to market. We know our product and we know our aging, so anything shorter than that doesn’t reach its full potential.
ONE LITTLE-KNOWN FACT ABOUT TEQUILA IS THAT... if you have less than 1% of syrups, concentrates, glycerin or coloring in your liquor, you don’t have to disclose it on the label. We pride ourselves on being an additive-free tequila and pulling all of our authentic flavors from the blue agave plant directly in Mexico.
I FIRST GOT INTO SPIRIT PRODUCTION THROUGH... college at Texas A&M. I had a professor who talked about his travels in Scotland, and he spoke about all of the differences between Scotch, Irish whiskey and Kentucky bourbon. I didn’t know much about whiskey at the time beyond the fact that it’s grain, yeast and water in a barrel, but that got me started down a rabbit hole of how it’s made. That led me to food science and wanting to learn more about the process behind our favorite beverages.
I STARTED WORKING AS A TECHNICIAN AT... a sensory science kitchen and flavor chemistry lab and worked a lot with meat and coffee. A professor overheard that I wanted to work with whiskey, and he introduced me to his Ph.D. student Rob Arnold, who was the master distiller at TX Whiskey. I ended up doing my thesis project on how different types of corn could affect the flavor of whiskey. After I graduated, I became the whiskey scientist at TX Whiskey before joining La Pulga this past spring.
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHISKEY AND TEQUILA ARE... night and day. The plants and maturation are complete opposites. With whiskey, you want to emphasize the maturation to extract flavor and color, and that can take anywhere from four to five to 10-plus years. With tequila, you just want it to rest, and that happens in a matter of months. The core differences are the starting plant and amount of time it takes to age those spirits.
I’M A BIG BELIEVER THAT SPIRITS CAN... bring two strangers together. Smell and taste are strongly tied to memory, and I always wanted to make something that would contribute to people’s celebratory moments. It’s always easier to talk to the person next to you if you’re drinking the same drink.