Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/833814
{ SOMMjournal.com } 61 Most of us too already understand that the main difference between mezcal and tequila is in their production methods. With tequila, the piña (heart of the agave) is cooked in an autoclave (horno de mampostería). With mezcal the piñas are cooked in a palenque (pit in the ground). Tequila can only be made from blue Weber agave, whereas mezcal can be made from 30 (possibly even more) different varieties of agave. The most commonly used agave in mezcal is Espadín. The Mexican states allowed to produce mezcal and tequila are different too, although there is some overlap. Most mezcal production occurs in Oaxaca, and the same is true for Jalisco and tequila. The juice is also extracted differently. Mezcal producers tend to use more traditional tools like the tahona (a millstone), although that's changing these days. Still, traditional production is and always will be paramount in the world of mezcal, so much so, there is a new Norma Oficial Mexicana—NOM, the standard for Mexican mezcal certified by the Consejo Regulador del Mezcal (CRM)— that empha - sizes production method. During February of this year, a new regulation (NOM70) passed stipulating that mezcal must be made only from 100 percent agave (previously at 80 percent), and the products will fall into three categories depending on how the mezcal is produced: mezcal (for industrial mezcals), mezcal artesanal (for artisanal mezcals) and mezcal ancestral (for tra - ditional mezcal). Each category dictates different rules concerning the cooking, grinding, f ermentation and distillation of the agave. Put briefly, basic industrial mezcal will likely involve some type of automated machinery in mass production, while mezcal ancestral will be made mostly by hand (or, no joke, donkey) implementing rudimentary tools (clay pots, animal skins, tahona, etc.). Artesanal is somewhere in between those two. Just because a mezcal is labeled artesanal and not ancestral doesn't mean it's any less authentic or lacking in quality. There are certain distillers whose products could and should be classified as ancestral but are not simply because they don't employ a clay pot during the distillation process. In fact, the mezcal ancestral category really only speaks for a small number of Mexican distilleries. Still, this regulation is a step in the right direction, honoring the tradition, craft and small- batch uniqueness of mezcal. It's for this reason—and because of the recent smoky flood of the stuff into the U.S.— that The Somm Journal has set out to offer our readers a few well-made mezcals. OUR TOP PICKS Cráneo Organic Mezcal Artesanal, Oaxaca ($58) Founder and Tequilero David Ravandi knows agave. Now common practice, it was his idea in the early '90s to treat tequila as an ultra- premium product, aging it French oak and packaging/pricing it accordingly. Today, Ravandi is taking advantage of this incredible intuition and applying it to mezcal by remaining faithful to tra - dition. Cráneo is organic, single village (Santiago Mazatlán) artisanal mezcal employing time honored production methods using a tahona to extract the juice from hand-selected agave grown at a high-altitude of 5,600 feet. Smooth, well-rounded, citrusy and just slightly smoky; offering hibiscus, orange peel, and a sweet almost sappy agave through-line. Structurally formidable with a flavor profile that hits the sweet spot between smoke and agave, Cráneo is a top-notch, hearty mezcal created by one of the industry's great - est champions. 123 SPIRITS A Few "Must Know" Mezcal Terms QUIOTE: Flower of the agave PALENQUE: Originally defined as a pit in the ground, it can now mean distillery. PECHUGA (mezcal de pechuga): A finished mezcal redistilled with herbs, fruits or nuts; additionally, some sort of raw meat—usually a chicken breast (pechuga means breast)—is hung over the distilla- tion kettle and imparts character into the final flavor of the mezcal. ABOCADO: Mezcal with adjunct flavors like sweeteners, worms, coloring agents, etc. MEZCALERO: Craft distiller SILVESTRE: A mezcal made with wild agave HORNO: Oven PIÑA: Heart of agave PULQUE: Agave wine; fermented agave juice TAHONA: A wheel made of stone used for pulverizing piñas LAS PERLAS: "pearls"—bubbles in the fermenting mezcal, the size of which are traditionally used to determine alcohol content Founder/Tequilero of Cráneo Organic Mezcal in his agave fields.