Sadly, all too often it is easy to be fooled into trusting the veracity of what we read and hear about mezcal brands in Oaxaca. Whether it’s in online or print publications, what they tell us in bars and mezcalerías, and even what’s on the labels of some well-known brands of agave distillate, sometimes there is a problem.
Contemporary mezcal brands that have conquered the spirits world for the past two decades, dating back to no earlier than 1995, are often frank about what they claim is in the bottle; but that is not always the case. Certainly, buyers have an obligation to do their due diligence before spending more than $ 100 USD on a new product on the market. But right now it remains a challenge for consumers to be able to measure, evaluate and deconstruct all of this bombardment. In 20 or 50 years, drinkers will surely be more informed about mezcal than it is today. However, currently, to the extent that the information that exists is misleading, ambiguous, misrepresented and even completely false, mezcal fans and, more importantly, would be amateurs, are at a disadvantage.
The obvious solution is to buy what you sure know and like. The best mezcal is the one you like the most. But what about an agave distillate you’ve heard of and are considering buying? If you are outside of Mexico, it is unlikely that you will be able to try before you buy. The best option, of course, is to visit some palenques in the interior of Oaxaca, for example, where most of the nation’s certified mezcal is distilled. While you’re at it, and even visiting mezcalerías in the state capital, you can try before you buy. Making that pilgrimage is simply not feasible for many.
In fact, there are brands that are not happy to receive consumers in their facilities. Why? For example, a mezcal aficionado might be interested in learning what exactly is meant by online promotion as “produced by modern and traditional methods.” You might be disappointed to learn that “modern” means highly industrialized; Similarly, “traditional” means nothing more than harvesting, cooking, crushing, fermenting and distilling using the highest technology means of production and tools of the trade.
What does “100% farm grown espadin agave” or “100% natural” really mean these days, at least in Oaxaca? Are madrecuixe, barrel, Mexican and tobalá really all the wild agaves that are used today to make mezcal? Does tepeztate really take 35 years to mature before being harvested and transformed into mezcal? Is there something artisanal about the fact that the agave is steamed in a hermetically sealed brick room, then crushed with machinery, and finally distilled in a stainless steel column still fueled with diesel?
Yes, of course, we all want to make life easier for hardworking palenqueros and their families. However, there is a profound difference between modernizing to produce more juice to better fill the pockets of entrepreneurs and, in a way, to advance the cause of altruism for the benefit of those who work in the fields and distilleries. In other words, the use of a gasoline machine to crush the baked sweet agave instead of, say, a heavy wooden mallet to crush it by hand, works for the latter and is difficult to see as objectionable. On the other hand, mezcal made through modern methods strictly to increase profits, is a completely different animal. In my estimate, motivation should be in the equation.
A palenquero who produces for an export brand that labels his mezcal as made with agave “grown on the farm” asked me to sell him some maguey from my field. I had no idea that the espadín, the madrecuixe, the tobalá and the weber of my land are cultivated on the farm! Maybe I should start referring to my land as my state and put Don Alvin on my business cards.
Sarcasm aside, typically “farm grown” means that the agave is grown on land that belongs to the distiller. In the language of wine, it can apparently also mean that the land is managed by the winegrower, but is owned by someone else. With the production of mezcal you can connote a better quality liquor, but not necessarily, and perhaps not at all. One might assume that growth is better controlled by the palenquero who is keeping a close eye on the land for a decade, if at all. But it could be fertilizing and chemically spraying your property. And there are almost innumerable factors that influence the final quality. If it’s farm-grown and certified organic, I might be convinced, but anything other than that sends red flags. So, in my opinion, the buying public can be easily misled. And more recently, almost all artisan and ancestral mezcal producers are looking to buy agave from anyone who sells it. Their own royal “farms” are barren or lined with rows of young succulents years after harvest.
In the wild instead of cultivated. A store in downtown Puebla, about four hours down the toll road from Oaxaca, is owned by a well-known brand of Oaxacan mezcal (supposedly) traditionally made. It only sells mezcal under that label. In its commercialization, it indicates the sprat as cultivated, but all the others are described as made with wild agave; madrecuixe, tobalá, arroqueño and the rest. Almost all the species of agave that are used to make mezcal in Oaxaca are now cultivated. However, you can still find mezcal that is actually made from wild tobalá, for example, and probably most of the tepeztate is still produced from wild maguey. But most varieties, including wild boar, are now grown, and most mezcal on the market is produced from cultivated agave, an environmentally and sustainably responsible approach to the industry. The other day a friend told me about all the species and subspecies that he has in cultivation, grown from seeds in his greenhouses, 16 in total, some 200,000 plants that he has been offering to growers and palenqueros. While of course not impossible, it is extremely unlikely that the Puebla retailer will distill all of its mezcal from wild agave. This just doesn’t make sense.
Just think of the mezcal boom, and how much of the liquor made in the state of Oaxaca is now on the shelves of liquor stores, bars, restaurants and mezcalerías, in Mexico, North America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere, including China. . Can the labels be accurate if so many describe the juice as made with wild? Of course, no. But some brand owners believe that the buying public will pay more if mezcal is described as made from wild agave. If you visit Santiago Matatlán, the sides of the road are littered with fields almost exclusively made of sprat. But if you venture further into more remote regions, and traverse the dirt roads on the other side of the mountain, you will find arroqueño, tobalá, Mexican, madrecuixe and barrel, all in orderly rows, waiting to be harvested and processed; then to be labeled wild in some cases.
Suppose for a moment that all the labels that describe a mezcal as distilled with wild agave are accurate. That does not mean that the mezcal is of better quality than the next bottle that lacks the word wild as a descriptor. Just think about it. The microclimate (including airborne yeast and water source), the means of production, the tools of the trade, the type of wood used for baking, the skill of the palenquero, etc. must be considered. Each is as likely, if not more likely, to impact quality, as is wild v. cultivated.
Some communities are dictating to their palenqueros that for every wild agave harvested, two must be planted. And some brand owners are looking for volunteers during the rainy season to plant small seed-grown agaves in the mountains. In both cases, suppose those magueyitos will be allowed to grow in the wild for a decade or so, without irrigation, fertilizers, weeding, or otherwise cared for. How should the resulting mezcal be labeled? I suggest, as some have called it, semi-wild. But again, that doesn’t help us determine the quality of what’s in the bottle. We must know more, much more, including the reputation of the producer. And of course, the type of agave used will likely affect our purchasing decisions as well.
One brand promotes its mezcal as gluten-free, feeding on the celiac frenzy. Are there mezcals that are not gluten free?
The fact that a liter costs 500 pesos and another 1,000 pesos, both from the same palenquero but of different species, does not mean that the latter is of better quality than the former.
Does age really matter? Maybe. But it is more likely that those brands that on their labels have the age of the agave used to produce the mezcal in particular, are simply trying to increase the price. An employee of a mezcalería in central Oaxaca used to tell customers that tepeztate takes 35 years to mature. As a friend of Palenquero once told me, if the farmer who harvests that tepeztate in the wild does not know his own age, how does he know the age of the maguey?
Be wary of those who are overly dogmatic in promoting their own or other mezcal brands, and those who tend to speak in absolute terms. What is your motivation? I would suggest that they are trying to build their reputation as mezcal experts or inflate the price of the agave brandy they are whipping up.
One could reasonably expect to pay more for a mezcal made from cultivated agave that has been in a nursery and then in a field for 15 to 40 years, given the attention that has been paid to it over such an extensive period of time and the cost of owning it. . occupies its own square meter on valuable land. If grown, then on the whole it would appear to have a more modest value, subject, of course, to how many kilos of raw agave it took to produce a liter, clay v. copper distillation, aging and the rest. But it is unlikely that it has been in the field for much more than a dozen years. If it’s wild, why should it cost more if it’s just been growing unattended in the hills for a couple of decades? It is true that wild agave in the field for 25 years can taste richer due to the time it has had to absorb rich minerals and a large amount of carbohydrates. But the same can be said for cultivated agave that is grown on the steep slope of a deep river valley, or left for a year after the quiote has been cut. If you are convinced that it is wild and that the person who harvested it has worked hard to get into the mountains and back out again, then sure. But wild can also mean grown on flat land adjacent to the palenquero distillery.
The worldwide mezcal boom has been generous to producers and distillers. The exponential growth pattern is expected to continue for decades, despite the cyclical nature and fad in the alcohol business. Consumers have also jumped on the wave. If brand owners and their representatives, and retailers, including stores, bars and restaurants, want to continue reaping the benefits, all must recognize that the salsa train may be short-lived if the current pattern continues. Perhaps the industry needs better oversight and regulation. For those who object to that scenario, the solution is to follow this advice.
