Herradura

Herradura is a brand of [ingredient=tequila tequila] owned by Brown-Forman and made at the Casa Herradura in the small town of Amatitán in the state of Jalisco. 

Herradura has its start as a tequila producer in 1870, then Félix López married Carmen Rosales and took possession of the Hacienda del Padre, which included a small chapel, grazing land for livestock, a few houses, and a place to make vino de mezcal. He renamed the compound Hacienda San José del Refugio, and began producing 100% agave tequila. 

 Félix López died in 1878, and his brother-in-law Ambrosio Rosales and his wife, Elisa Gomez Cuervo de Rosales took over the hacienda. They passed the distillery on to Carmen's son Aurelio. During this time, the Mexican government and the Catholic church came into conflict, and Aurelio fled the country, handing control of Herradura to his cousin David Rosales. It was David who registered the horseshoe trademark with the Mexican government in 1928, and insisted that Herradura stay 100% agave tequila.

After David, control of Herradura went to his sister Esther de la Peña Rosales, who gave day to day control to her husband Ernesto. Ernesto drove the company into financial difficulty, and eventually, Esther another sister were bought out by their third sister Gabriela. She gave control of the distillery to Carlos Ugarte, but was a force in the modernization of the distillery in the mid-20th century, as well as the introduction of an [ingredient=anejo-tequila Añejo tequila] in 1962 and a [ingredient=reposado-tequila Reposado] in 1974. 

Gabriela’s sons Guillermo and Pablo Romo de la Peña ran the distillery until they sold it, the Casa Herradura, and the agave fields in 2007. 

Herradura makes a line of 100% agave tequila: a silver, aged for 45 days, a Reposado, aged for 11 months, an Añejo, aged for 24 months, and a 49 month old Selección Suprema. These are all 80 proof. They also make the El Jimador brand, a line of regionally distributed tequilas, and premixed tequila cocktails.

Herradura Website