Mezcal Is Born of Time, Tradition and a Slow-Growing Plant | Hacker News Reader

Mezcal Is Born of Time, Tradition and a Slow-Growing Plant

nytimes.com

90 pointspetethomas33 comments

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.

This is a common misconception. The agave plant matures in 7-10 years, so harvesting 10-14% per year is 100% sustainable.

Thanks for putting my conscience at ease. :)

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

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.

> 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...

Some mezcals use wild plants, either because the species haven't been successfully cultivated, or because growing conditions in the wild result in better flavor. Sustainability has been a serious concern.

If you thought that about mezcal, you should try xoconostle liquor. Next-level stuff.

Eventually the Agave plant will bolt a stalk out of its center and go into full bloom. After that, it dies. It is a one shot plant. They also use agave for tequila.

Tequila is mezcal made specifically from the blue agave plant.

And made in the Tequila region of Jalisco, much like Champagne can only be called that if it comes from the region.

The only thing that will happen if demand overwhelms supply is that prices skyrocket, and some Mexicans get rich. Not that the agave plant somehow gets exterminated.

Has anyone tried 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.

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.

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.

> 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...

One of my favorite nights in Oaxaca was spent tasting mezcal at Mezcaloteca. The woman behind the bar kept pouring us varities that tasted like nothing I had ever experienced before. Everything we get in NYC is typically espadin or a blend. These were single origin bottles in 100 liter runs from small family distilleries. She had such an encyclopedic knowledge of all the producers and their families, it was a really special experience.

I ended up buying a bunch of bottles from the bar and an extra suitcase from a shop near the zocalo to carry them back with me. I’d recommend spending a night doing the tasting there to anyone traveling through Oaxaca.

The maguey flower is quite incredible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave_americana#/media/File:Ag...

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

A very good Mezcal drink:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012967-oaxaca-old-fashi...

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

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

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).

Go to La Clandestina, try stuff and talk to them!

400 Conejos is a fairly popular and good Mezcal.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply, I'll have a look out for those!

Check out Los Danzantes. That stuff is incredible - and dangerous.

Mezcal has a denomination of origin. Check this link: http://www.crm.org.mx/ Worse, you have to pay a licensing yearly fee. This hit hard the small indigenous communities.

It seems you were downvoted pretty harshly, but I agree, I've had mezcal twice, and both times it tasted like licking an ashtray.

I appreciate the other commenters explanations, though, perhaps I just had cheap mezcal. I just can't imagine anyone liking that flavor I tasted.

Some are more fiery, some more fruity, some coat your mouth like a fat, and some more smokey. There are a zillion combinations of each. Just like any spirit, it takes some getting used to, but Mezcal is definitely one of the most rewarding once you start tasting different producers.

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