Oaxaca: Chocolate 🍫 & Mezcal

Continuing My Oaxaca Tour

Greetings,

When you visit Oaxaca (which you definitely should) you’ll notice a few ingredients that are foundational staples of the food scene and culture.

Corn 🌽

Chili 🌶

Cacao 🍫

Agave 🌵

We’ve already looked at Corn, Masa, Chilis & Molé but it would be a complete mistake to not talk a little mezcal and chocolate before leaving Oaxaca.

Mezcal 🌵

Let me start out by saying that a lot of the mezcal juice that comes into the US and other developed countries where it is seeing a big rise in popularity are generally not the best examples of this spirit.

Marketing is everything… keeping low costs and high margins are optimal.

This is the difference between artisanal and large corp products (including coffee)

Going to Oaxaca gives you access to mezcal from the source, with no middlemen and where artisan producers are easier to find with much less “retail markup”

A lot of people when they here “mezcal” say ‘I don’t like smokey flavors’. The fact that mezcal and smoke have been synonymous is another failure in marketing.

There’s no better place to do a tasting and exploration of mezcal than while in Oaxaca to experience a wide range of flavors, aromatics and textures since there are dozens of agave varieties used to make mezcal

Ironically, I was told the reason Tequila can only be made from a specific type of agave (Blue Weber, aka agave azul) is because that was the most plentiful type at the time and farmers wanted to get rid of it. Another marketing angle 😂

Regions

There are 9 states in Mexico that produce mezcal.

Durango, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas. Each of these states produce Mezcal with slightly different flavor profiles that distinguish them.

Oaxaca is particularly notable for mezcal production due to the vast number of different agave types that grow within the region.

Oaxaca itself has seven regions known for mezcal making

On top of that, each Palenque (Mezcal house) and Maestro (distiller) will have different recipes, agave processing and distilling methods that make the variation between regions and producers fun to explore; not to mention interesting.

Agaves

There are over 200 types of agave in Mexico, the majority of which are found in the Oaxaca region. Some grow to the size of large pineapples (aka the name “pina” to describe the roots) to massive plants larger than a man.

Espadin is the most common and “neutral” agave. It also fully matures in 7-8 years which is probably why 90% of the mezcal produced is Espadin vs other varietals that can take 25-30 years to mature!

I think of espadin is a “blank slate” mezcal. This does not mean it isn’t worth trying. I’d recommend people start at an espadin from a good producer. This would also be the kind of mezcal you could use as a mixer for cocktails.

It would not make sense to take a mezcal from a 30yr old agave that was distilled by a small batch Maestro and cover it up with fruit juices, sweeteners and soda.

Since some regions refer to the same agaves using different names it’s really helpful to refer to the mezcal by it’s scientific name on the label. This avoids any confusion.

Example: Agave Marmorata takes approx 25 years to mature and is known as Maguey tepextate (or tepeztate) in Oaxaca and Maguey pichomel or Maguey pizorra in parts of Puebla.

Hence why the scientific name removes all doubt when dialing into the specific agave

A quick word on other nomenclature you will see.

Pechuga: means “breast”. Some maestros will hang meat (turkey breast, boar meat, deer meat, and others) in the still while the mezcal is distilling to impart a savory flavor to the finished spirit. It’s also common for fruits, chilis and nuts to be included at the discretion of the maestro.

Espadin being the most neutral agave works best for these types of mezcals, generally speaking. Look at this label for example.

‘Espadin…. con carne de jabali y guayaba’

This is a pechuga mezcal that was distilled with boar meat and guava in the still chamber.

Another fun aromatic was this Mango & Habanero

Another term you’ll see is Joven, which simply means ‘unaged’. More on that later.

Labels

Since we just looked at 2 labels, let’s break down what a good label looks like.

Note: a lot of mass produced mezcals will not list all of the info described below because, well… they don’t want you to know 😂

Here are some important details to look for on labels that will help you dial in exactly what your flavor and tasting preferences are.

Maestro- The distiller

Estado- State (Oaxaca, Puebla, Michoacan, etc)

Poblacion- Region

Maguey- Agave name

Tipo de Horno- oven type

Molienda- grinding method

Fermenting Vat: (wood, etc)

Agua utilizada: spring water vs well water 

Destilador: copper, clay etc

Numero destilaciones: # of distillations. Usually 2-3 to bring alcohol content to correct %

Date of Distillation

Liters Produced

As you taste and explore you might find you are partial to a particular maestro’s recipe, a region, a type of agave. maybe you prefer mezcals that are distilled in clay stills vs copper.

You don’t need to memorize any of this info but if it’s available to you on the label or from your supplier, you can probably start to notice patterns on likes and dislikes.

Small Batch Mezcals

The boom of mezcal has produced industrialized mezcal which takes shortcuts to maximize speed to market and margins (as stated above)

Unfortunately you lose a lot of nuance and ‘soul’ that comes from making it in the traditional way.

One thing that stood out to me and was conveyed by my tour guide was just how specialized the maestro’s are at making mezcal. Using recipes and processes that have been around for centuries.

For example during the distillation process the maestro will take a bottle of the mezcal distillate and shake it. By observing how fast the bubbles rupture and revert to liquid he can tell within a few % points what the alcohol content of the liquor is.

Many of these small batch mezcals are also made for specific village celebrations. Also if you see a Mezcal distilled in Sept or Oct you can assume it’s in preparation for the Day of the Dead celebration upcoming.

Really fascinating.

Tequila & “Barrel Aged” Mezcals

Speaking of industrial production and marketing. Tequila used to be called “Mezcal Tequila” before the boom of popularity into the US and overseas. Tequila is technically a mezcal but in an effort to differentiate and make a new specific niche, the ‘mezcal’ was dropped.

After that, US and overseas palates were not so used to or fond of the assertive tequila taste. It was then promoted to add salt and suck on a lime to dull the taste and encourage people to consume more.

Then the barrel aging boom began. Again, “how can we soften the flavor of the spirit and also charge much more per shot/bottle? Let’s age it like wine!” 😂

As my mezcal guide recounted that as the general history it really is quite comical how smart marketers are can shift an entire industry. Now you’re seeing the same thing with mezcal.

TLDR: avoid “barrel aged mezcals”. Marketing gimmick that is only taking away from the integrity of the spirit. Or it’s an industrialized spirit that needs to muted and you’re paying a big premium for that.

With one exception…

It’s been known to happen over the years that maestros who really love a particular batch of mezcal would put them into large glass vessels (like carbouys) and wither bury them in the ground or store in cool basements.

There are now labs studying the effect that time has on aging mezcals.

Remember glass is non-reactive but there is a softening and rounding that occurs when aging mezcal in glass in the absence of light and oxygen that researchers are trying to understand.

Example here. Distilled in 2011 and just released a few months ago

Tasting

When tasting mezcal it’s suggested to follow this method:

1. dip your finger tip into the mezcal and apply to the top of your wrist. Allow the alcohol to evaporate and then smell the mezcal. This will give you a clue on aromatics and flavors.

2. take a sip and slowly roll the mezcal on your palate for 3-5 seconds, then swallow. You will probably feel some heat during this time, that is normal. The process is adjusting your palate.

3. now take small sips and you should be able to savor and enjoy all the aromatics within the mezcal.

Waste

There is a lot of mezcal and tequila distilled in Mexico. This also yields a lot of waste after mashing the agaves. There are lots of fibrous threads leftover from the process that extremely tough and almost impossible to break down.

About 20 years ago the brick makers in Oaxaca started incorporating the fiber threads into the mortar for their bricks.

Why?

Oaxaca is on a major fault line and gets semi-frequent earthquakes. (This is why you don’t see high rise buildings in Oaxaca).

Structures of brick notoriously would crumble and fall apart during especially intense quakes so by adding the agave fibers to the bricks, they don’t crumble. Worst case the brick separates from the cement joint but then can still be reused and put back together.

Pretty cool innovation

Mezcaloteca

So where should you go to learn as much as possible about Mezcal in Oaxaca.

I suggest Mezcaloteca.

They are not open to the public for walkins and it’s not a bar.

You make a reservation for a tasting. Upon arrival your tour guide will walk you through the entire process and perform a tasting of 3, 4 or 5 mezcals for you and your party to try.

Why I love this spot so much is that Mezcaloteca only carries mezcals that have less than 800 liter productions. This means you’re getting to try small batch, artisan mezcals and support the local economy and maestros.

There are plenty of surrounding Palenques if you want an on-site tour of mezcal production. I’d suggest Real Minero which has increased production but continues to distill in the OG traditional way.

In the meantime, if you’re looking to get your feet wet in the world of mezcal and want to try a cocktail and see some info I didn’t include here but covered a long time ago, check out this Mezcal Cocktail Intro for a killer cocktail recipe!

This turned into a longer post than planned so look for Oaxaca Chocolate and my complete recommended list of Restaurants coming to you soon!