Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/35876
MEZCAL REPORT Mezcal refers to any distilled spirit made by any method from any one of the 28 varieties of the agave plant grown in Mexico. To be called tequila however, the spirit has to be made from only one—the blue Weber agave—and is subjected to a series of additional regulations regarding production and geographic origins. Eben Klemm, Beverage Director of B. R. Guest Hospitality, whose restaurants include the Dos Caminos Mexican eating spots, explains, “There’s more variation in styles and flavor of mezcal than in tequila because tequila is, by legal definition, a more homogeneous product.” And that is much of mezcal’s appeal—the wide variation in flavor from brand to brand, along with its less polished, rustic muscularity. These days, much tequila manufac- ture is a large-scale, commercial opera- tion. With its computerized control systems and shiny stainless steel tanks, Artisanal Mezcal Production Sombra (SRP $45) is available through Domaine Select. Sombra is an artisanal micro-batch mezcal made in them same fashion that this traditional spirit has been made for more than 200 year. Here’s a glimpse at some steps in the process. ➊ The maguey piñas are roasted in a rock-lined conical pit. ➋ After the roasting process, the piñas rest for a week before crushing. ➌ The maguey is crushed in a horse-drawn stone tahona. ➍ The crushed maguey is fermented prior to distillation. ➊ these tequila distilleries resemble noth- ing so much as oil refineries, or at least a large Australian wine factory. Not so with mezcal. It’s the quintes- sential artisanal product. “We’re talking about thatched roofed, lean-to shacks with dirt floors in many cases” claims Charles Bieler, owner and distiller of the Sombra brand. Typically a village will harvest the indigenous agave from the surround- ing hills. A fire is built in a rock-lined pit and when it is reduced to hot coals, a mat is laid over them and the heart of the agave, the piña, is thrown on top. Covered with banana leaves and dirt it’s left to smoke for two to seven days depending on the custom of village “so it takes on this wild, camp fire, cara- mel-y type of cook,” explains Bieler. Once the starches have been converted into sugar, the piña is pulped, fer- mented and then distilled. This is the way it had been done for centuries, with barely a nod of recogni- tion from the outside world till 1990 when Los Angeles artist Ron Cooper stumbled across it while in Oaxaca working on a project. Captivated by the product, he determined to make it more widely available. Today his Del Maguey brand bottles ten mezcals, six from individual villages and, as he points out, “Made by farm- ers, not factories.” However, here the picture darkens. The misty, romanticized image of mezcal production is not the whole story. While much is still made in this way, it is largely for local consump- tion. According to Cooper, “Very few mezcals that get to the U.S. are actually made by farmers. There are a lot of people who have usurped our language but [their mezcal] is made in production towns.” The economies of scale and the pressure on cost would seem to make such a move inevitable. With its pungent smoky nose and assertive agave flavor, mezcal is more suitable for drinking straight than mixing in cocktails. As Klemm explains, “Mezcal’s smoke is a difficult ingredi- ent to mix with.” But he adds, “To me they’re more like aperitifs; they are so aromatic, so complex that they really get the palate going the way most spirits don’t. This is really unique. I love the excitement of it, the complex- ity; I love the fruit flavors in mezcal.” Not surprisingly then he finds many of his customers gravitate to mezcal from single malt scotches. ➋ Cooper has similar expectations of his product. He employs the motto “Sip it, don’t shoot it!” for the Del Maguey brand in an attempt to position his brand as not just another moon- shine but a spirit worthy of serious contemplation. ➌ ➍ 100 / the tasting panel / july 201 1 As for the scorpion, French has an altogether more down to earth attitude. “It’s just for having fun,” he tells THE TASTING PANEL, “and to help it sell off the shelf. Not having several million dollars for advertising, I came up with the idea of the scorpion.” It certainly plays to the product’s rawboned image, but how long mezcal will retain this rollicking, entrepre- neurial ethos as its popularity grows and commercial pressures mount is problematic. Could, in ten years, mezcal be just another tequila? PHOTOS COURTESY OF SOMBRA