You say Tequila, I say Mezcal

Mezcal Tour, Oaxaca State, Mexico

The people of Oaxaca are very proud of their traditions, many of which are unique within Mexico. Mole (there are 7 kinds), and mezcal are two of the better-known ones. We decided to take a full day tour of several palenques (the places where they make mezcal) with a local expert, a gringo who has lived in Oaxaca for a long time and devoted his “retirement” to spreading the mezcal gospel.

About Mezcal:

Mezcal is made in 9 specific regions of Mexico: Oaxaca, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Michoacan, and Puebla.  Oaxaca is the center of the mezcal world, responsible for 85% of all mezcals.

First, a quick description. Mezcal is a distilled spirit made from a wide possible array of agaves. The predominant variety of agave used is espadín, in part because of its shorter growing period (~8 years vs. 15 years) and its higher carbohydrate content, so it takes 12-15 kg (~30 lbs) of espadín hearts to make 1 liter of mezcal, compared to maybe 30 kg (~60 lbs) of variety tobalá.

Long day of tasting...just starting!

SO – the more familiar tequila is a mezcal, but made only from 1 species of agave, agave tequilana, or Weber blue agave, and it takes only 7 kg to yield 1 liter. If you get mezcal in a US bar or store, it may say 100% maguey, rather than agave. As best we understand, maguey is just another, maybe Zapotec-based word for agave.

Our tour:

Horno earth oven

Our trip started at 8:30 am, when 19 of us piled into a large van and headed south, to the heart of mezcal production in Oaxaca. Our first stop was at the palenque of Felix Ángeles Arellanes, in Santa Catarina Minas. Señor Arellanes uses very traditional methods which comprise cooking the piñas (the agave heart which looks like a pineapple,) in a horno, (in-ground oven 6 feet deep by 10 feet wide) for five days to convert starches to sugars for fermentation, then after allowing it to “rest” (ferment / mold for a few days,) crushing the roasted piñas either by hand with a very large wooden bat, or using a horse to pull a large millstone, called a tahona, in a circular mill.

piñas, machete shown for scale

horse working a tahona

The crushed, roasted sweet piñas are then put in wooden vats, fiber and all, and water is added. This mash naturally ferments until the alcohol is about 7-10% ABV (alcohol by volume). The resulting liquid is then distilled over a hardwood fire, twice, in small batches, in large-ish clay pots to around 50-55% ABV –  mezcal! (Some use a 300-liter copper stills instead of clay.)

Our tasting begins...yes, gas cans

Agave plants are slow-growing taking 7-18 years to mature. Some are small and close to the ground, others several feet across and several feet tall, still others grow more yucca-like and have a tall longish trunk. On our tour, we tasted “single agave” products from 16 different varieties – cuixe , madrecuixe, espadin, carne, cerrudo, blanco, arroqueno, coyote, barril, tobasi, tobasiche, tobala, tripon, tepeztate, mexicano and jabali – plus several blends. That can cause palate fatigue!

We had no idea there were so many…and they propagate 3 different ways. #1: via a sprout coming from the roots of an existing plant, called a hijuelo (little son). These hijuelos are clones of the mother plant, so do not add to genetic diversity. This is how most agave tequiliana plants are developed, which puts tequila in the crosshairs of being a serious monoculture.

method #3

#2: seeds from a one-time-only stalk, which looks like a giant asparagus, and can be 20 feet tall. It will open and flower, which is pollinated by bats and birds, and will result in seeds.

 #3: the stalk will eventually have small sprouts that can be cut from the stalk and planted.

Generally, the stalk is not allowed to grow since it uses a lot of plant energy, resulting in less convertible starches in the piña.

Chicken breasts used in pechuga

One interesting twist – pechuga mezcal. Pechuga is the word for breast, as in chicken breast, and somewhere along the line, no one is sure when, a raw chicken breast was hung just inside the clay pot still where it was steamed by the distillation process. We sampled several pechugas, and they seemed to have a slightly softer mouth feel. But it doesn’t taste like chicken! In fact, warm spices and fruit are usually added that make it a bit "christmasy" tasting.

Sales & Marketing

An interesting difference with mezcal (and tequila) versus something like bourbon is that the time to market may be similar – ~7 years– but the reason is inverted. For mezcal, you are waiting for the plant to mature, whereas with bourbon, the inputs are readily available at any time but the aging process after distillation causes the wait.

Mezcal sales growth rate, ~40%, each of the past 6 or so years has led all distilled spirits – albeit starting from a small base. This demand has pushed prices for piña from maybe 400 pesos per tonne 10-12 years ago to 15,000 pesos, or more. It has also made theft a problem for growing areas. Our guide mentioned having 250 plants stolen in one night. Imagine the loss if you are a small farmer who has been waiting 7 years for a harvest, only to have it stolen!

mucho mezcal

It was a very interesting tour, and we returned bearing 2 bottles at “direct from the palenquero” prices!  This, believe it or not, is the “short version” of this story. For the “full geek” version, contact us.

If you are in Oaxaca and want to seriously taste mezcal...Alvin Starkman can be found at: https://www.mezcaleducationaltours.com/

(24 noviembre 2018)