Hacienda Corralejo is located in Pénjamo, a short drive from Guanajuato City and Leon, Mexico. The distillery is not just a major attraction for tequila aficionados, however. It is also a popular site for school field trips, given the distillery stands on the grounds of the birthplace of Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, regarded as the father of Mexican Independence.
Hacienda Corralejo was founded in 1755 and was the first estate in Mexico to produce tequila as a commercial venture. Don Leonardo Rodriguez Moreno, a beverage industry veteran, purchased the hacienda in 1994 and re-launched the Tequila Corralejo brand in 1996 — making it both one of the oldest and the newest tequila distilleries in Mexico.
Corralejo is the only distillery to use the Charentais method of distillation. It is the same distillation process used in making French cognac. This method allows the distillery to capture more of the aroma and flavours that are so distinctive to Corralejo tequila.
