‘How Tequila Is Made,’ ‘Maguey, Plant of 1000 Uses’ (videos)


Tequila — real tequila — can only be made from the blue agave. This short British documentary explains the process.

But wait, there’s more. How about the 1952 Ralph Adams documentary Maguey: Plant of a Thousand Uses:

From Archive.org:

[Ralph] Adams is a filmmaker whose life and work appear to be completely unknown today, as we have conducted a fruitless search to obtain biographical and filmographic information.

He covered a breadth of territory, and we suspect that he might have made dozens of films on Mexican themes.

His narration is not the most compelling, but he was a very good cinematographer, and apparently insisted upon superior print materials, as his color is exceptional for the era. Here, he describes the myriad uses of this interesting plant, including fences, paper, tequila, pulque, needle and thread and rope.