Tequila? Try a Raicilla

You might want to plan to raise a glass of raicilla on your next destination vacation, thanks to Royal Roads Bachelor of Arts in Global Tourism Management students. As part of their capstone project, students in the tourism and hospitality program have partnered with a school in western Mexico to help attract visitors to the state of Jalisco, promoting a homegrown tequila-like spirit called raicilla.

RRU Students partnered with students from the Technological Institute of Higher Studies of the West (ITESO) University in Guadalajara as part of a new collaborative online international learning initiative. 

Assoc. Prof. Eugene Thomlinson, director of the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Royal Roads, says the initial work of the undergraduate students this year sets a foundation for an ongoing project for many student cohorts to come.

“This particular project and the way that it's been done is new,” he says. “I think this is probably the first time ever that our school has done anything internationally, and definitely never one of these collaborative online international learning projects.”

How it began

Thomlinson first visited Guadalajara a few years ago to explore partnership opportunities for RRU with the tourism department at ITESO. While there, he toured the surrounding region and visited various tourism vendors, including raicilla producers. 

Raicilla, a distilled spirit that, like tequila, comes from the agave plant, dates back hundreds of years. The drink, which means small root, is only produced in Jalisco.

“It's kind of like tequila, only it's made through a different process,” Thomlinson says.

While tequila is produced with blue agave through a steaming process, raicilla is made mainly from the maximiliana variety, and the pina, or core, is roasted.

“So it gives it more of a smoky flavour,” Thomlinson adds. “And I think it's terrific.”

It’s more of sipping alcohol than a shot and is being marketed for export as a new gourmet product.

That’s where Thomlinson’s students come in.

Under the banner of raicilla

Tourism operators in Mexico want to develop the clusters in the region under the destination theme of raicilla, much like is done with wine in the Okanagan area of BC.

“Mexico has quite a bit of experience with developing destinations on their own, more so with beach destinations and things like that. And we've got more experience with natural-type destination development,” says Thomlinson. “So we're sharing our ideas back and forth about how to do this, how to do it sustainably, how to connect up with Indigenous populations, and how to develop cultural aspects.

“The region itself also has a lot of potential for things like mountain biking and hiking and a lot of different natural experiences as well.”

For the Royal Roads tourism program, Thomlinson wants students to have a practical project, applying earned theories and concepts.

“Because ITESO had already been working in the region, we decided to connect up with them and have our students on these multicultural, international teams to work on helping develop this region as a tourism destination. And what we're looking at trying to do is add a minimum five- to 10-year lifespan for these projects, with the idea that every subsequent year, every next group, builds on what the previous group has done.”