Mezcal: The Hippest Export from Oaxaca, Mexico Susannah Rigg - Nearshore Americas
go to original April 2, 2014

El maestro mezcalero Don Tacho explains growing, harvesting and distilling agave to make Mezcal at his farm in Santiago Matatian, Mexico. (mycompasstv)

Billed in the London Metro as “tequila’s smokier little brother” and in the New York Times as “tequila’s brash, more rustic cousin,” mezcal has become the cool drink of choice for those in the know. When just a few years ago it was almost impossible to find this potent agave-based liquor outside of Mexico, it is now on the trendiest bar menus in London, New York and even as far afield as Wellington, New Zealand.

The spiritual home of mezcal is the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, until now better known for its food rather than its drink. Some locals are amused by the sudden popularity of the tipple that they would (and still do) buy from local producers, who decant the agave nectar into anything from plastic bottles to petrol canisters. Asking a local, what his favorite mezcal was (there are seemingly hundreds to chose from) he just laughed and said “I don’t know. When I started drinking mezcal, it was just mezcal”.

For those who would spend maybe $30 pesos (just over $2 USD) on a good size bottle of the spirit, the thought that there are now some that sell for $1,000 pesos ($75USD) or even $2,000 pesos ($150 USD) is almost absurd. Their earthy moonshine has become like gold.

Read the rest at Nearshore Americas

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