To make their tequilas, Patrón crushes agave with a two-ton wheel made of volcanic rock. It’s called a tahona wheel, and it’s the old way (“old” as in all the way back to Spanish explorers distilling once they established settlements in Mexico) of pulping the agave in a pit. Patrón uses the tahona in conjunction with a roller mill to make its tequilas, and employs the tahona by itself to make Roca Patrón.
The tahona wheel slows production down quite a bit, but also allows Patrón to avoid some of the methods that many connoisseurs feel detracts from the true taste of the spirit. Historically, an animal would pull the wheel along its radius, but Patrón uses an engine since these are modern times. Once it’s ready, the tequila goes into a hand-numbered bottle.