Doug Menuez recently took time from his busy schedule shooting high-profile advertising campaigns for Ford, Siemens, Nokia, Microsoft and other clients to create and fund a personal body of work about tequila.

He traveled to the town of Tequila, Mexico, and documented the ancient traditions of making the town’s namesake alcoholic drink in the oldest distillery and hacienda in Mexico, while exploring tequila’s role in the rituals and culture of Mexico.

His tequila project has received recognition from the Photo District News First Photography Annual, American Photography 17, Communication Arts Photography Annual 42, the Advertising Photographers of America’s Personal Work Contest and the Association of Photographers-London.