Mezcal

Mezcal is often confused with Tequila but they are two very different spirits. Mezcal is another name for the maguey plant, as well as the generic name for spirits distilled from agave.

When the Spanish invaders arrived in Mexico 400 years ago, they taught distillation techniques to the native people, creating the first distilled spirit in the Americas.

Mezcal can be made from over 30 different types of agave that are native to nine states of Mexico. The most common, contributing around 90 percent of Mezcal volume, comes from Agave Espadin. Oaxaca is considered the official home of Mezcal, but the spirit is also produced in several other states.

Mezcal has been recognised as an appellation of origin (AO, DO) since 1994.

Technically, Tequila is a form of Mezcal, not the other way around.

Mezcal and Tequila have quite different flavours. At a basic level, Tequila tends to have a smoother, sweeter flavour, while Mezcal is usually described as smoky. Some of these differences in flavour can be attributed to where each spirit is made and the climate in which the agave plant is grown. Beyond that, their different production processes affect the flavour – Mezcal’s smoky quality, for example, is usually attributed to the way the agave is cooked in underground ovens.

Within each category, flavours will vary again depending on how long the spirit is aged.

Mezcal can be made from more than 30 different subspecies of agave, which are native to nine states of Mexico.

The type of agave used and where it is grown will affect the flavour of the Mezcal it produces. Espadín is the most common type of agave used in Mezcal – accounting for about 90% of commercial Mezcal.

The hearts of the agave are cooked in underground ovens, which is where it gets its distinctive smoky flavour, then are mashed and fermented with wild yeast in various types of vessels. One producer might use clay, another might use wood, while another might even use raw cow hide!

The amazing variation in agave, terroir and fermentation method contribute to the wildly different flavours available in Mezcals.

Tobasiche gives Mezcal herbaceous notes like cedar and botanicals, while Mexicano offers a balance of sweet and savoury flavours. Tepeztate, which grows wild in the foothills of the Sierra Oaxacan mountains, creates intense, spicy flavours, contrasting with tobala, which produces Mezcal with a more delicate, floral flavour.

Agave requires very little water and thrives in harsh climatic regions of high altitude via a network of shallow roots engineered to effectively capture water in the form of rainfall, dew and condensation.

The more challenging the growing conditions the agave faces, the better, the stronger and more complex the flavours produced by the plant.