Tequila Ocho and two other tequila makers are participating in a bat-friendly pilot program designed to protect Mexico’s threatened species. The first vintage release of bat friendly Tequila Ocho from the 2016 Puerta del Aire estate is now available on a national basis, and in recognition of its environmental contribution, features a hologram bat label.
Tequila Ocho is made from 100% blue agave, sourced entirely from estates owned and farmed by the Camarena family.. “We’re not just in the business of making tequila,” says Carlos Camarena, Master Distiller. “Healthy bats depend on allowing some of our plants to reach full maturity and not harvesting before flowering. We in turn benefit from biodiversity and more complex genetic material that will sustain our agave for generations to come.”
Ocho is one of three tequila producers currently participating in a bat friendly pilot estate program, and allowing at least 5% of their agave plants to fully flower. Blue agave will store sugars for about 8 years before producing an enormous single bloom, or quiote; bats thrive on these short-lived flowers, and pollinate an estimated 180 species of agave as well as many other plants throughout Mexico.
Complicating matters for growers and producers, the agave plant cannot be used to make tequila after it blooms. To extract maximum sugar – and to meet increasing demand for agave – tequila producers have cut back the flowering cycle, depriving bats of an important food source and shifting migratory patterns away from the tequila region, severely threatening the genetic diversity of blue agave and the local ecosystem.
“Bats are an un-loved animal,” acknowledges Camarena, “but it is amazing how opinions change when we realize their natural connection to our most beloved export, tequila. We’re in a unique position as farmers and tequila-makers to monitor these ecofriendly practices first-hand.” Third party organizations such as the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México are monitoring the flowering of blue agave to measure the impact on local bat populations, with early indications of positive gains.