Mezcal: Mexico's Mystical Drink with Its Own Culture and Tradition Jo Tuckman - The Guardian
go to original August 18, 2014

Mexicans whose families are fourth or fifth generation mezcal producers explain the process of harvesting, grinding, fermentation and distillation. (The Guardian)

Lorenzo Angeles remembers swallowing his childhood anger when clients bartered hard with his mother during night-time missions to sell the family’s precious moonshine. Today, as he approaches retirement, he savours vindication: that same liquor his family used to peddle door-to-door is now the tipple of choice for connoisseurs of luxury spirits.

Mezcal, a spirit made from the heart of the cactus-like agave plant, was once disdained as poor man’s firewater. But it is now enjoying unprecedented success at home and abroad: consumption in bars has more than doubled in the past four years and exports have tripled in the same period.

“They used to treat us with disdain, but now everybody wants to sell mezcal,” said the 64-year-old at his pristine distillery in the small town of Santa Catarina Minas in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. “I always knew there is no better drink.”

Mexico makes just 2m litres of mezcal a year – less than 1% of the amount produced of its more famous agave-based liquor, tequila. But among fans of fine spirits, mezcal is winning the battle for hearts, minds, livers and wallets.

“Mezcal is at a crossroads,” said Abél Alcantara, a former political activist turned mezcal promoter. “This is the moment when it could really take off to become something similar to single malt whisky, or start to fall behind again.”

Read the rest at The Guardian

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