00:05When you think of the Whitsundays in northern Queensland,
00:09a massive agave plantation is probably not what comes to mind.
00:14But that's what you'll find near Bowen at the Eden Lassie Farm.
00:18Half a million spiky succulents.
00:22Where getting to the heart of the plant at harvest is a hazardous job.
00:35We're affectionately known as the prickle farm to the locals.
00:39So they are very dangerous, yes.
00:42Eyewear is essential gloves.
00:44And the other thing a lot of people don't know is that if you get the sap on you,
00:48it's a very itchy rash that can come up.
00:51So it's not a very nice plant to work with at all.
00:57Farm manager Brett Smale came here seven years ago in more of a caretaker role,
01:02when Australia's first commercial agave farm was in its early stages.
01:08I didn't even know agave was what tequila came from.
01:12So, no, I knew nothing about it.
01:18He's since learned a lot about the tequilana or blue webber variety
01:23and its sugar-rich core, which is called a piña,
01:26because it looks like a pineapple.
01:31Until recently, this type of agave was only grown commercially in Mexico,
01:37the home of tequila.
01:39And it certainly requires patience waiting for it to mature.
01:44We're looking sort of between eight to 12 years for harvesting,
01:49but they can live for a lot longer than that.
01:53But it depends on when they throw their flower stalk up,
01:56because once the flower stalk's up, that's the end of life for the agave.
02:04The future of the whole farm looked in doubt last year,
02:08when former owner Australian distiller Top Shelf International
02:13collapsed with major debts.
02:15But another local beverage company, Blue Sky Drinks, stepped in,
02:21buying the struggling spirits producer and its agave property
02:25after watching tequila boom in the US.
02:28When you've got mature categories like bourbon, vodka, wine,
02:33all flat or declining,
02:35and you've got agave or tequila globally growing more than 10% a year,
02:39we just saw it as such an opportunity
02:41to build something that was generational and iconic.
02:44you
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