In our 3 months or so in Oaxaca, I’ve learned many
things.
But mezcal is definitely one of
the things I’ve learned the most about while here.
Mezcal is an extremely important part of the
culture of Oaxaca, one of the things Oaxaqueños are most proud of about their
state, and one of the ‘hottest’ exports from Oaxaca in the rest of the world
right now (for better and worse).
But mezcal is a confoundingly complicated spirit. The variety of magueys (what ‘agave’ is
typically called here) used in mezcal is very very large; the complications of
methods of production; the variations based on ‘terroir’ or location are, well,
complex. One could spend years sampling
mezcal and still only have scratched the surface. But I’m scratching away, day by day!
The main thing I want to talk about today is labeling. Mezcal has a “DOC”-type regulatory agency and
“mezcal” is thus a protected mark worldwide.
But importantly, there are 3 types of officially regulated mezcal, with
one other type that’s possibly even more important.
First, there’s “mezcal.”
This is the most industrial, and thus generally the lowest-quality
mezcal you will find. Unfortunately,
it’s also the most common, especially in export markets like the USA. Anything that’s labeled “mezcal” (as opposed
to the other two types below) is unlikely to be very good. It might be fine for mixing in cocktails
(something which is traditionally unheard of here, but is gaining a foothold
nowadays), but it’s certainly nothing you would want to sip like a good mezcal,
and it shouldn’t cost very much. More
unfortunately, at least here in Oaxaca, the authorities don’t really police
what ELSE the bottle can say—I’ve seen many bottles which (to me) seem to be
trying to trick the consumer into thinking they’re in one of the other
categories. “Tradición Artesanal,” (as in the lousy bottle pictured above) etc.,
mean, as best I can figure, absolutely nothing.
Unless the bottles says “Mezcal Artesanal,” it is NOT artisanal mezcal
in any meaningful sense.
The second category is Mezcal Artesanal and the third
category is Mezcal Ancestral. These two
categories have fairly small and fairly insignificant differences between
them—that is to say, fantastically awesome mezcal can fall into either
category, and just because something is Mezcal Ancestral doesn’t make it better
or higher quality than Mezcal Artesanal.
The main differences are: Mezcal Artesanal can be distilled with either
a copper or ceramic still, while Ancestral can only use pottery; Mezcal
Artesanal can use horses or even tractors to run the mill that crushes the
cooked piña, while Ancestral can only use human-powered means (mostly wooden
mallets) to crush the cooked maguey.
There are a couple of other minor differences between these two
categories, but those are the main ones.
There is a third category, more common here in Oaxaca and
Mexico generally than in export markets, which is mezcal which hasn’t gone
through the (complicated expensive) certification process at all. It is generally labeled (to the extent it has
a label; one may also find it in reused plastic soda bottles!) as “Aguardiente
de Agave” or Aguardiente de Maguey”.
Some of the finest mezcal to be had in Oaxaca is in this category,
because it’s sold by someone who knows good mezcal from bad and can vouch for
its quality, so the producers don’t spend the money to get certified.
The main takeaway here is: if you find a bottle labeled
“mezcal” and the word “artisanal” or “ancestral” doesn’t come IMMEDIATELY and
precisely afterwords, then what you’re looking at is low-quality industrial
mezcal and probably should be avoided.
Don’t be confused by a label that has the word “artisanal” or
“ancestral” or some other nice sounding word somewhere on it. I don’t know why the authorities allow
producers to use these words at all—in a logical world, they would be
completely forbidden….. but alas. The
other things which should be on any respectable bottle of mezcal are: the
actual name of the maestro mezcalero (or maestra mezcalera) who made the batch;
the name of the town where it was produced; the methods of production,
including at least whether it was distilled in barro or cobre (clay or
copper); and the alcohol percentage (this should be AT LEAST 45%; there’s a
saying that mezcal of less than 45% alcohol is not mezcal, but I’ve seen
“mezcal” of 30-35%).
The other main takeaway: you should come to visit and we
will taste great mezcal together.
Pictures to illustrate what I'm talking about:
Here's a bottle found at a souvenir shop, of lousy industrial mezcal. Note the use of "tradición artesanal"-- there IS a tradition, but this ain't part of it.
Here's a bottle of good mezcal I bought at the Feria de Mezcal back in July. Note "Mezcal Artesanal" plus lots of other important stuff (100% Agave, goes without saying that if it's not, it's a very bad sign; the type of maguey, distilled in clay, and "joven" (young); aged mezcal is not generally a thing, though "añejo en vidrio" (aged in glass, i.e. in the bottle) IS a thing that's becoming more popular)
Here's a bottle of excellent mezcal I bought at the famous Mezcaloteca, which bottles small-batch mezcal from producers who don't do anything but MAKE the mezcal. Mezcaloteca, because of its titanic reputation, has no need to jump through the expensive hoops of certification (though they just started an export company, which I suspect DOES get its stuff certified), thus "Aguardiente de Agave." This style of label is quite common (perhaps from people copying Mezcaloteca) with TONS of info on how it was made....
This picture is stolen from the Interwebs, because this mezcal is now available in Minnesota! And it's great stuff. The "Mezcal Artesanal" is a bit hard to find (it's at the very bottom), because this label actually has some graphic design, so they didn't (apparently) want to clutter the main label with extra words. Interestingly, I bought a bottle from this producer bac
This Planet Money story tells about Mezcal Tosba... it's a good listen. The bottle I have, I bought from one of the cousins who own and started the
palenque.
k in July as well, but the label did not have the bit at the bottom (presumably, when they're selling in Mexico at events like the Feria, they figure they don't need the certification).
