Mezcal is much more than a distillate with which to enjoy a place. This is how Graciela Ángeles, head of Real Minero, explains it, one of the finest mezcals that comes to our country by import. “It’s a ritual drink,” says this mezcalera master, the fourth generation of her family to devote herself to the gold of Oaxaca. “As a unifying element within a community, we ask for rain or a good harvest. We have the habit of dropping it on the ground because this is about feeding the land so that it provides us with food later.” Ángeles explains that it is also used to celebrate the birth of a person or to honor the memory of the deceased; It is still associated with festivals of all kinds, whether religious or pagan. “In my case, mezcal is an element that represents part of my identity,” says the expert, whose company is based in the Mezcal Cooperative of Los Angeles, focuses on the field and the producer and imports to numerous countries.
“Ultimately, it is a project that is presented as a family business model in a rural area, but which can compete in all respects with a company in a big city,” he continues, explaining a proposal whose aim is to preserve and defend traditional techniques and acknowledge that these methods are also of good quality. “My family saw that in the 1980s the state tried to make mezcal look like tequila, that it became more technical, that it was only made from the Espadín variety, that there were large quantities and that it was cheap.” Meanwhile Real Minero produces no more than 8,000 liters per year, a product of excellent quality, always in small quantities of 25, 35 or 50 liters. Their mezcals are called miners because they are only made in Santa Catarina Minas (Oaxaca, Mexico) and are distilled in clay pots, a technique introduced by the Filipino community.
Jima de Maguey and Pulquero in Oaxaca, Matatlán. Macurichos family. Macurichos is a traditional mezcalero company. They have dedicated their lives to caring for the land and the agaves to continue making mezcal. Image provided by Grupo Entre Compas.
Erika Meneses, 34, lost her husband four years ago. He was the one who came from a mezcal family and instilled all his wisdom into the business. In September 2020, some mezcal masters left the group they belonged to and founded the Aguerrido brand with Meneses. “A small project within the community, but with good and recognized mezcals,” he comments on an initiative by four men and two women from Chilapa de Álvarez, in the state of Guerrero, one of the eight that bear this designation of origin, along with Zacatecas, Durango, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Tamaulipas and Oaxaca.
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According to the Mexican Mezcal Regulatory Council (Comercam), Oaxaca is the region that produced the most mezcal last year, at 91.31%, followed by Puebla and Durango at 3.44% and 1.41%, respectively. Guerrero came in fourth place with 0.94%. “Chilapa has always been a hotspot of violence and insecurity,” he says of the area where he lives and produces mezcal, around the central mountain of Guerrero, where there have been more than 1,200 murders and 500 disappearances in the last two decades. “You get used to living like that and taking care of yourself. We keep a low profile and try to upload information that is not so relevant to our social networks because we would expose ourselves as a project and as families to blackmail.”
Today it is these regions that interest mezcal scouts the most. “Given the growth in Oaxaca, in recent years we have begun to collaborate with other producing states, currently very small, that continue to preserve all the traditional part, the most famous part of the production of this product,” admits Wilmer Yamajin, born in Quito, 45 years old, behind Grupo Entre Compas, one of the pioneer mezcal distributors in Spain, founded 11 years ago with Mexico City native Felicia Covone. You’ve witnessed the entire rise of mezcal firsthand. While production in 2012 was just over a million liters, a decade later the data rose to 14 million, according to Comercam’s data in its latest statistical report. With an increase in production compared to 2021 of 74.89%. “Since 2010, the mezcal market has experienced sustained growth with an annual increase of 25 to 30 percent,” says Yamajin.
“If we had listened to the first tastings of these first vintages, we would have had to abort the mission immediately. “Both the Spanish public and the professional public believed that tequila was a cheap liquor that only made you lose consciousness,” he jokes about the first tests that brought names like Alacrán or Pierde Almas onto the Spanish market , which were recently purchased by Diageo, one of the most important transnational corporations in the world. At their location in Madrid’s La Latina district, La Mezcaloteca (Calle del Humilladero, 28), they now offer more than 300 brands of agave distillates; in addition to tequila and mezcal, there are also raicillas, bacanoras and sotoles.
Santi Dorado, Wilmer Yajamin and Max Vazquez. Dorado and Vázquez began working together as bartenders at Mezcaloteca. Image provided by Grupo Entre Compas.
The word mezcal has its origins in words from the Nahuatl language. “Some claim that it comes from mexcalli, which means boiled maguey,” points out Comercom. The Mezcalero Maguey (or Agave, as its scientific name is) is a plant of the Amaryllidaceae family with long, fibrous, lanceolate, bluish-green leaves. There are hundreds of them, most of them wild, but the most popular are the Espadín, the Tobalá, the Cuishe, the Green and the Ashen. Its recognizable smoky character comes from the cooking process.
At Handshake in Mexico City, one of the two counters is dedicated to Mexican spirits, where you can easily find brands like Real Minero or Rey Campero, whose productions are usually exported since they are much more profitable abroad. “Due to Americans’ travel habits, mezcal was quickly exported and is now available in the rest of the world,” says Erik van Beek, the man behind the success of this speakeasy, the third best cocktail bar in the world according to The World’s 50 Best Bars. For Limantour, the other major cocktail bar in Mexico, which ranks seventh on the list, mezcal accounts for about 35% of sales, both in cocktails and as a solo drink. “People are eager to try new agaves, producers and styles,” admits José Luis León, head of bars for the brand. One of his favorite mezcals is the Coyota Sonriente (sic), made from Crassispina agave and produced in the state of Zacatecas. “I think it has delicious herbal notes.” And cocktails? “My favorite is one we make with espadín mezcal, poblano chile liqueur, black tea, pineapple and oregano.”
Once upon a time in Oaxaca: Siete Misterios Doba-Yej Mezcal, mint, absinthe and whey. Image provided by Handshake.
In recent years, many international brands have joined the mezcal bandwagon and homogenized the product. “About ten years ago it began to escalate in a way that is even frightening,” recalls Pedro Jiménez, founder of Mezonte, an organization dedicated to preserving and disseminating the biocultural values of mezcal. The audiovisual professional, who has lived in Jalisco for 18 years, is also responsible for directing the documentary Viva Mezcal, which deals with the problems of its production. “Mezcal is a distillate that has an extremely strong connection to the biological and cultural diversity of Mexico,” he comments. “I don’t know if it could disappear, but certain agaves, the wildest ones, could disappear.” Jiménez insists on the transformation of the Mexican landscape, such as the section of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve between Puebla and Oaxaca, “which has been completely destroyed, more than 40,000 hectares, and that’s hardly talked about.” Carlos Marrufo, owner of the eponymous cocktail bar in Madrid that specializes in mezcal, confirms this: “The very special agaves, which are smaller or take longer to grow, some with a maturity of 20 or 30 years, start to grow.” disappear because these big brands are not interested.”
Writer Emma Janzen, author of Mezcal: History, Preparation and Cocktails of the Artisan Liquor Triumphing Around the World (Cúpula, 2018), wrote in a tweet last year: “Recent reports say that agave distillates are being sold for the first time “more than whiskey and are on track to surpass vodka by a total of $13 billion.” Chatting with her via email, it’s clear that the global interest is unstoppable. “Not only are we seeing consumers around the world become more interested in this category, but the number of bars dedicated exclusively to the spirit is also increasing around the world,” points out the editor of Drinkways, in Good Beer Hunting, where he develops, assigns, and edits stories exploring the culture of spirits, cocktails, wine, and other non-beer beverages.
In his opinion, mezcal is interesting to many people because of its diverse production methods. “Every mezcal you taste will taste different than the last because of these variations in the way it is made. For example, a Durango mezcal made with the same agave in Oaxaca tastes completely different. “You could try a new mezcal every day for years and not find exact repeats.” A mezcal for every day of the week… if we don’t finish them first.
Mezcal distillation. Image provided by Grupo Entre Compas.
One of the most recent works analyzing the phenomenon is The Essential Tequila & Mezcal Companion: How to Select, Collect & Savor Agave Spirits (Union Square, 2023), written by Tess Rose Lampert, who is responsible for advising on the various possibilities of the mezcal , in addition to writing research about the strong similarities that exist between cannabis and agave.
– Why do you think the consumption of mezcal has become so popular?
“My theories about why agave spirits are so popular right now are a bit extreme. I think there are three basic reasons: The first is the global interest (and fetishization) of all things Mexican. The cultures that come from the land we know as Mexico are very rich and offer the world many basic ingredients such as tomatoes, chocolate and chili peppers. Another reason I believe agave drinks are so popular is because the plant, agave, tries to communicate with people on a broader level. Plants and humans have always had symbiotic relationships, and although plants cannot talk to us, they do communicate. I can’t claim to know exactly what their message is, but I think it goes something like this: “Wake up people and rebalance your relationship with Mother Earth.” And finally, mezcal is really good: it tastes good great, offers a lot of complexity, is a little mysterious and makes you feel great.”
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