
Mezcal Is Born of Time, Tradition and a Slow-Growing Plant - petethomas
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/travel/oaxacas-potent-secret-mezcal-is-born-of-time-tradition-and-a-slow-growing-plant.html
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kieckerjan
This may sound pathetic, but the first time I tasted a good mezcal a few years
ago (in Texas, because in Europe where I come from it is hard to come by) I
got emotional. For someone who tastes a lot of different spirits like I do,
the complexity and depth of this stuff is undeniable and self-evident. Truly
magical stuff.

As much as I am in awe of it, I feel conflicted about it becoming popular and
even about drinking it. In contrast with e.g. wine, which is produced from the
fruits of a noble plant, which regrow each season, this is produced by
wrecking a mature plant. I cannot see how this is maintainable once the whole
world develops a taste for it.

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monocasa
I mean, Tequila is a subset of mezcal. They're doing just fine and distilling
that at scale.

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snarfy
The only pollinator of agave is an endangered species of bat. When they make
tequila, they harvest the plant just before it blooms, providing no benefit to
the bats.

They are doing it, but I wouldn't say everything is just fine.

~~~
UncleEntity
> It has taken 30 years of conservation efforts by biologists and volunteers
> in both countries as well as tequila producers and agave growers in Mexico
> to rebuild a healthy [lesser long-nosed bat] population.

Apparently no longer the case[0].

I remember we did our two week gig in the reserves at Fort Huachuca 16 or so
years ago and we weren't to even think about approaching the flowering agave
plants under any circumstances. Under _severe_ penalties.

[0][https://nypost.com/2018/04/17/bats-important-for-tequila-
pro...](https://nypost.com/2018/04/17/bats-important-for-tequila-production-
no-longer-endangered/)

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xenihn
Has anyone tried pulque?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulque)

I've been looking for a place that serves it in Southern California, and I've
yet to find one.

~~~
royelsan
I love pulque! While the texture is slightly resemblant of liquefied mucus
(or, it was in the Mexico City bar I had it at) it is quite tasty and I
encourage anyone visiting CDMX to try it.

As for parent, Depends where in SoCal you are, but there are a number of
places in the SD metro area that I am aware have it.

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DennisP
I recently read a great book on this: _The Mezcal Rush_ by Granville Greene,
who toured around Mexico getting to know the people making good Mezcal in tiny
villages. It's an amazing story. One producer he visited has their pit and
still halfway up a small mountainside, next to a water source they like. They
have to carry everything up and down the mountain on dirt paths.

All mezcal is made by burying the agave in a firepit; a few still crush the
agave with wooden clubs, ferment it in a cowhide hung between trees, and
distill it in a clay pot. There's archeological evidence that people there
were doing the same thing at least 500 years ago.

I picked up a bottle from Del Maguey, the first company to import "single
village" mezcal to the U.S. (prior to that mezcal sold outside the producers'
villages was mostly mixed into low-quality blends). It was from that
mountainside producer. I wasn't a huge fan at first but it grew on me. There's
a lot of taste variation between different mezcals, partly since they don't
all use the same species of agave.

~~~
thanatos_dem
> There's a lot of taste variation between different mezcals, partly since
> they don't all use the same species of agave.

100% agree. That’s why I prefer Mezcal over tequila so strongly. In the 70s
tequila got its legal denomination of origin specifying that it _must_ be pure
blue agave. It was a sort of quality control at the time, but there are so
many other species of agave which can give mezcal a completely different
flavor profile.

For anyone who likes liquors but hasn’t given mezcal a shot, I’d suggest
checking out Aquilino Garcia Mezcal. They use authentic production methods,
and have a lot of different mezcals which all use different types and ratios
of agave species - [https://www.mezcalreviews.com/filter-
by/mezcalero/aquilino-g...](https://www.mezcalreviews.com/filter-
by/mezcalero/aquilino-garcia-lopez/)

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ced
The maguey flower is quite incredible.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave_americana#/media/File:Ag...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave_americana#/media/File:Agave_July_2011-1.jpg)

It's not a tree; the whole thing is a flower!

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strictnein
A very good Mezcal drink:

[https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012967-oaxaca-old-
fashi...](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012967-oaxaca-old-fashioned)

The spraying of the oil of the orange peel through a lit match is a
surprisingly fun thing to do.

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GreeniFi
I’ve recently moved to Mexico City. Could anyone recommend a number of good
mezcals to try?

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mtalantikite
Take a cheap Volaris flight to Oaxaca for a weekend and spend a night at
Mezcaloteca and In Situ! Besides the amazing mezcal, the food in Oaxaca is
really some of the best I’ve had anywhere.

In DF I’ve had nice nights drinking mezcal at la Lavanderia and Antolina
(although Antolina only serves mezcal from Alipus if memory serves me right).

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tbrock
Gross. If I wanted a drink that tasted like an ash tray I’d order a cigarette.

Mezcal is disgusting, I don’t get what the hype is all about.

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thanatos_dem
Not all Mezcals need to be so smoke-forward. Some of my favorites aren’t
Smokey at all. The ones that taste like an ashtray normally are often cheap,
and skip the proper production techniques, instead tossing in artificial smoke
flavoring. Mezcal’s don’t have a denomination of origin like Tequila does, so
there’s a lot less rules around it’s production and contents, unfortunately,
but I think it’s unfair to write off the entire category.

I could say the same thing about single malt whiskey, since serval scotches
taste like you’re licking a campfire, but there’s obviously more variation
there.

~~~
anfractuosity
Out of interest, could you recommend any mezcal/tequila, I've not had any
before, but do enjoy smokey drinks like laphroaig/octomore whiskies along with
smoked beers along with non-smokey spirits too!

~~~
thanatos_dem
For sure!

Del Maguey Vida is probably the most common mezcal. If you go to a bar and ask
for mezcal it’ll likely be that, and it’s actually pretty decent for the price
point, especially for cocktails.

If I’m going for something smokier and for sipping rather than mixing, I am a
big fan of Delirio Anejo. It’s pricier, but still pretty easy to find at
larger liquor stores, and has a great flavor profile, using two different
agave plants (Espadin, which is pretty common in Mezcal, and Madre-Cuishe,
with a more mineral flavor that compliments the smokiness).

If you want to get more serious about it, and as I mentioned in another
comment, you can check out Vago Mezcal by Aquilino Garcia Lopez. He produces a
whole collection of similarly prepared mezcals using different varieties or
agave, so you can really compare flavor profiles. Pricier and harder to find,
but great for learning about the differences.

If you haven’t had any tequilas or mezcals, probably the bare minimum info you
need is that there’s three main preparation styles - silver, reposado, and
anejo, each being aged more than the previous. Usually this results in
different colors - clear for silver, light yellow for reposado, and a whiskey-
like darker brown for anejo.

Generally aging will make the tequila more smooth and flavorful, so you’ll
want to focus on reposados and anejos if you aren’t mixing drinks with it. For
mixed drinks usually you want the flavor of the mixers more than the liquor,
so that’s when you’d go for the silver.

Some of my favorite drinks with mezcal are a Paloma, replacing the tequila
with mezcal, and with some hellfire bitters tossed in. It’s sort of like a
spicy margarita, but the grapefruit has a bit more sweetness which balances
out the smoke and spice.

Also, I love a last word, replacing the gin with mezcal. It’s a good bit more
bitter, between the chartreuse and the marsaschino, but I’m a fan of bitter
drinks.

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jerrysievert
Del Maguey makes a lot more than Vida, and if you get a chance (GP), look for
a bar that has a flight of Del Maguey, you'll be surprised at the diversity.

