TLDR;
The staff was incredibly helpful, informative, and…read morepatient. For $140USD you get unlimited drinks, delicious food and a unique, fun experience. This tour is one of the most fun things we did in Mexico.
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I did the morning train, evening bus ride version. While it was a little bit weird to be offered margaritas at 10am, the morning light meant I could take photos of the landscape while on the train.
This was basically a 12-hour day filled with drinks and food. In the Premium car, we got an impressive platter of dips with fried tortillas, delicious tamales, margaritas, shots, and mixed drinks. As soon as you had finished a drink, you were offered another one.
Once we had arrived in Tequila, you take a small bus from the train station to the distillery. Make sure you tell your guide that you need the English tour. When we went, there were maybe 6 groups in Spanish and 1 in English. Ideally you would have gotten on the small bus with all the other English speakers. The Spanish speaking groups, pile onto the small buses based on which car of the train they were on. So don't follow the crowd when you get off the bus.
Once you get off the bus you walk down a short street to the entrance of the Jose Cuervo distillery. Once there, you go on a tour of the facility where you are offered undiluted tequila (55% alcohol), regular tequila, a glass of reserve tequila, and another frozen margarita (I'd skip the last margarita, it's the same as the one you get on the train and it would be better to have a cantaritos instead). Cantaritos are the best mixed drink I have ever had with tequila in it. They are available just outside the gift shop from a little cart if you want a Jose Cuervo one, or you can walk 100 meters outside the to the main town square where there are several vendors selling them. After the really informative tour, you're given 2-3 hours to hangout in Tequila on your own. We used the time to walk around and eat lunch. You can also ride these barrel tour buses, buy some Mexican snacks, or visit some of the other museums or distilleries.
After 2-3 hours you meet everyone else in an open air auditorium. A mariachi band performs traditional music while dancers perform cultural dances. The show even includes Mexican pyrotechnics! During the show, there are even more margaritas (as well as water).
After the show, everyone gets on big tour buses to be transported to an agave field. An agave farmer demonstrates the different stages of pruning and harvesting the agave for tequila, then you get a glass of family reserve tequila. It is very smooth and very tasty. In theory you are only supposed to have one, but by the time they make the toast, most people are sort of tequilaed out and there are several extra glasses. I saw several people take 4 or 6 glasses.
After the toast, everyone boards the bus again for the long ride back to Guadalajara. You'll find your evening snack (a juice box, sandwich, apple, and chips) at your seat and they offer to make you even more drinks. Despite the ridiculous amounts of alcohol offered, the only people who seemed too inebriated were a large group of American frat boys. Don't be those dudes. Drink water throughout the day and pace out your drinking.
The staff was incredibly helpful, informative, and patient. Really for $140USD I felt like we were given at least $100 worth of alcohol and food and a priceless, fun experience. Everything about the day was fun and well planned out.
Kids are allowed on the tour but why would you drag them to a mostly adult day? We got back to the city around 8:30 pm.
