Mezcal In Oaxaca, Mexico
The 2 Cooks took a drive south of Oaxaca to visit several traditional mezcal distilleries, or palenques as they are called. We went with the very knowledgeable guide, Dr. Alvin Starkman of Mezcal Educational Tours. We learned some of the basics of agave history, cultivation, propagation and processing and got an in-depth look at traditional clay pot distillation. We also looked at artisanal copper distillation and experienced many of the flavors of mezcal. This was a 10 hour day for us and a lot of information to process. It is all very interesting and the differences between tequila making, which we explore in our previous article here, and mezcal making are quite intriguing. We will do our best to share the highlights of all this with you.
Agave
Mezcal begins with the agave plant and I suppose that is where our story should start. There are over 30 varieties of agave that are used in making mezcal and they can take anywhere from 3 to 30 years to reach maturity. Here is one place where mezcal is distinct from tequila: tequila is only made from the Blue Weber Agave while mezcal can be made from any of them. All agave in Oaxaca is cultivated and according to our guide it is a myth of advertising that some mezcal is made from wild agave as there is no such thing. There is a fair amount of variety in the appearance of the plants; some have wide leaves, some have narrow, some are smooth, some are spiky, they can be lighter or darker in color, but they all have the characteristic shape of agave.
Propagation
Agave plants can be reproduced in three ways. The first is to use the naturally occurring babies or clones that the plants produce. These come from the roots of the plant and begin growing nearby. They can be cut off the mother plant and replanted which we saw in our trip to Tequila where we actually cut and planted one of the babies just like a fieldhand at Anastasio distillery. The disadvantage of using clones over time is that undesirable characteristics can creep in to the strain creating less robust plants.
The other two methods of propagation use the seeds that grow on a stalk that the plant produces when ripe. One can simply let the seeds fall and sprout in the ground on their own and then transplant those babies during rainy season or one can collect the seeds and baby plants from the flowers and care for them in a nursery until they are ready to transplant. A well cared for plant can have a shorter time to maturity than one grown more haphazardly.
Harvesting Agave
When the agave is mature it sends up a tall flowering stalk. Right when it is about to do that the stalk gets cut off which stresses the agave plant. It’s response is to use all the resources it has stored in the leaves to make more carbohydrates and sugars in its continuing efforts to reproduce. These carbohydrates and sugars are what are going to turn into alcohol in the fermentation and distillation process. The plant can be left in this state for several months but it is often harvested fairly soon. The agave can be harvested prior to the flowering stage but it will be of lesser quality and have fewer sugars.
To harvest the agave, the leaves are cut off and the bulb or piña is pried from the ground with a long, sturdy tool. We were fortunate to arrive at La Descendencia palenque just as a truckload of very large Arrequeña piñas was being delivered. These are the largest piñas we have ever seen. They are called piñas because many of them resemble pineapples.
Cooking The Piñas
Here we come to one of the big differences between tequila and mexcal. While piñas for tequila are usually steamed or pressure cooked, piñas for mexcal are cooked over wood fires in underground pits. The wood is burned in the bottom of the pit and covered with a mound of rocks.
The rocks will then be covered with shredded agave that has already been used to make mezcal and sometimes other vegetation will be added. This helps to keep the heat in and helps the rocks get hot. It’s also a good use for the used agave. In the picture to the left the agave has already been cooked and removed. The palenqueros will completely empty the pit before they get ready to cook another batch.
The agave piñas will be placed around and on top of this mound once the rocks are hot. In the case of these large piñas they will probably be cut into quarters first. Smaller piñas would be left whole or cut in half so everything cooks evenly.
The piñas will be covered with more used agave, a sheet of plastic, and dirt will be shoveled over the whole thing to make an airtight oven. The palenqueros can check this to see that the piñas are cooking but not burning. This will be left to cook for about 4 days. Then the piñas will be removed and the pit emptied in preparation for the next cook.
Shredding the Agave
Next the cooked agave is shredded and pounded to release the juices. There are various methods for this including using a tahona as in tequila but it is common to pound the shredded agave with heavy wooden clubs or mallets.
The tahona is also used to smash the agave. This is a round stone that is pulled by donkeys and rolled over the mound of agave to break it down. This is the most common tool for this job when talking about tequila but the mallets might be somewhat more traditional for mezcal.
Fermentation Vats
Various materials have been used for fermenting vats over the centuries including clay vessels and wooden vats. The cooked, shredded and pounded agave is put in the vats, exposed to the natural yeasts in the air to ferment. With tequila it is only the juice that is fermented but with mezcal everything goes into the vats including the fibers.
As the agave ferments a thick paste forms on the top. This paste is useful as a sealant for the stills, which we will see later on. This part of the process does attract a lot of fruit flies!
The palenquero was taught by his father and his grandfather back through time to know when the fermentation is done by taste. They use this tool to take a sample and taste it and it is just the experience of generations to know when it is ready for the still.
Clay Pot Distillation
Ancestral mezcal is produced in clay pot stills. While these stills are not as efficient as copper stills they get the job done and the process is quite intriguing. A clay vessel is placed over a fire in a brick structure and filled with the fermented agave. Another vessel is placed on top of that and supplied with cold running water.
The agave boils, the steam meets the cold top vessel and falls back down onto an agave leaf. This leaf is suspended in the bottom vessel and the point of the leaf channels the distilled liquid through a river reed into your catchment container. In this picture you can see the paste from the fermentation vats used to seal the parts of the still. This first distillation is called xixe, comun or ordinario.
The xixe is then distilled a second time and the result is a finished mezcal. This is sometimes distilled a third time with flavorings to give many unique variations of mezcal. One such variation is Pechuga. In a third distillation animal parts are suspended in the bottom vessel so the steam passes over them. These are usually chicken, turkey or duck breast but we have seen Pechugas made with deer chests and even lobsters. It is also common to add herbs or other ingredients in the bottom of the vessel. Often the animal parts are left out and various herbs, spices, fruits and/or vegetables are used to give the mezcal different flavors. Many are subtle in the end result. Some of the stronger flavors we tasted in the distillates were from lemongrass and marijuana.
Infused Mexcals
In addition to adding flavors with a third distillation, palenqueros also like to experiment with infusions. Some of the more unique infusions we tasted were scorpions and whole marijuana buds. The scorpions release their venom when they are put in the mezcal. While the marijuana distillates tasted more like the leaves of the plant the infusion really had the flavor of the flower.
Mezcal Tasting At La Descendencia
Our first stop on our tour was at La Descendencia in Santa Catarina Minas, an ancestral clay pot palenque. Given all the variables; agave variety, ripeness, time of year, etc every batch of mezcal is unique. As every palate is also different, there is a mezcal for everyone. The owner of La Descendencia is Félix Angeles Arellanes. He enjoyed having us taste over 30 mezcals he has produced.
The first 17 mezcals were the twice distilled products from varying agaves. he had a few blends of 3, 5 and 10 agaves which were interesting. The images above each bottle shows the agave, or maguey from which it was made. You’ll be able to see this a bit better in the video from this excursion.
The other wall of the tasting room held all the Pechugas and infusions. there were some very interesting flavors over here. It is important to only have just a small sip when tasting this many mezcals. One does not spit out any of it and it would be fairly easy to get over tipsy as these can be anywhere from 45 to 70 percent alcohol.
At the end of the tasting there is an opportunity to purchase your favorite mezcals. Hopefully you have kept track of which those are. We purchased a half liter each of the Mezcla De 3 and an Espadin Pechuga made with chicken breast.
Rambha Palenque
Our next palenque to visit was Rambha, also in Santa Catarina Minas across town. This is a woman owned, woman operated palenque run by Rosario Angeles. Rambha is also an ancestral palenque using clay pot distillation. One difference with her still is that she uses a piece of wood to catch the distillate rather than an agave leaf. This will give a slightly different flavor to the end result.
The top vessel of the still here is copper. This can have either a copper or stainless steel bottom, which will also have a effect on the flavor. This is the vessel that is supplied with a stream of cold water. The steam condenses when it hits the bottom, falls onto the wooden collector, into the river reed and finally into the container.
Most of the labels Rosario creates for her bottles are on paper made from the used agave fibers that are left over after making the mezcal. Nothing is ever wasted if it can be helped. We sampled at least 10 mezcals here.
One of Rosario’s unique experiments is a pechuga made with lobsters. Basically, 5 whole lobsters were suspended in the clay pot still during a third distillation. The flavor of lobster really comes through in this bottle. She really likes to have a high alcohol content in her distillates and this one checks in at 65%. We tasted as high as 70%! We loved the label as well as the mezcal so we brought this bottle home.
Palenque Fortunato Hernandez
After a lunch break we went to the home of Fortunato Hernandez in the town of San Bactazar Chichichapam. He was not distilling that day so we went to taste his mezcals at his home rather than at the palenque. Suffice it to say this was a rather rustic setting. His daughter who was just shy of her 14th birthday was the one who served the mezcals here. We tasted at least 25 more mezcals here. It’s important to note that it is impolite to spit out the mezcal so we were taking very small sips.
One of the more unique offerings here is a mezcal infused with scorpion venom. The scorpions are dropped in the bottle live and they release their venom into the mezcal. We didn’t buy this one but we did come back with a 1/2 liter of Tepeztate.
Palenque Silverio Garcia
The final palenque we stopped at was Silverio Garcia in Rancho Blanco. This is an Artisanal copper pot distillery. The mezcal making process is very similar to that of the clay pot distillation but copper is a bit more efficient so yields from the agave will be a little better. When we arrived they were switching out the stills, getting rid of the old agave and setting up for a new batch.
This was really a good process to see as the stills have to be taken apart to remove the spent agave and then reassembled with new agave. They had several stills, all in varying states of readiness.
This palenque also uses plastic jugs. We were assured that this is all food grade plastic.
Everyone seems to have their special brew that they want to share. This one is infused with marijuana flowers. I don’t think they heated the buds first so I’m not sure you’d get a buzz but the flavor is really nice in this one.
A y N La Casa del Pulque
Our final stop for the day was in Santiago Matatlan. This is the capital of Mezcal, a small town with over 100 palenques. We stopped at the pulque shop which has been here for generations. Pulque is a liquid that is harvested early in the morning. This liquid is called agua miel or honey water. It is harvested by cutting a hole in the top of ripe agave while it is still in the ground. Liquid rich with the carbohydrates and sugars fills the hole and that is what is harvested. It starts to ferment right away so the sweet drink is available in the morning and it gets more sour as time goes on. Fully fermented pulque is about 9 percent alcohol and quite sour. It is often mixed with fresher agua miel and fruit juices such as strawberry. The mixture was really delicious.
Map Of The Journey
Here is a map of the rural area south of Oaxaca City where we went on this journey. We have markecd the stops with the numbers 1 through 5.
Mezcal Educational Tours
If you are in Oaxaca we highly recommend this tour. Our guide was knowledgeable and friendly and he knows just about everyone in the business. Dr. Alvin Starkman of Mezcal Educational Tours.
There’s a mezcal and molé tasting available in Oaxaca City at Mezcal y Molé.
Some gluten free eating tips for Oaxaca City are here: Gluten Free In Oaxaca City
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