{"id":595407,"date":"2023-01-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/03\/what-is-mezcal\/"},"modified":"2023-01-03T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T14:00:00","slug":"what-is-mezcal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/03\/what-is-mezcal\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Mezcal?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Like wine or beer,\u00a0mezcal is a blanket term. In its broadest definition, it\u2019s any\u00a0distilled spirit made from the\u00a0agave plant, which is known in\u00a0Mexico as a\u00a0maguey.\u00a0Mezcal is meant to be sipped neat in small cups, but in the hands of a trustworthy\u00a0bartender, a\u00a0mezcal cocktail is a winning situation. Today, we\u2019re digging into how it gets made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Agave Plant<\/h2>\n

Agave is a succulent native to\u00a0Mexico. There are roughly 30\u00a0different varieties of agave that can be used to make\u00a0mezcal. They grow in the wild and on farms, and take seven to 20 years to mature. The most well-known\u00a0maguey is the\u00a0blue weber agave, because it\u2019s used to make\u00a0tequila. You read that right\u2014tequila\u2019s a\u00a0type of mezcal<\/a>. Excluding\u00a0tequila, the majority of\u00a0mezcal is made from the\u00a0espadin\u00a0agave plant because it\u2019s high in\u00a0sugar and matures quickly.<\/p>\n

Mezcal Production<\/h2>\n

Mezcal\u2019s distilled from the\u00a0heart of the agave plant. The\u00a0pi\u00f1a, as it\u2019s known in\u00a0Spanish, looks like an oversized pineapple. It can weigh up to 300 pounds and takes very difficult labor to harvest and transport. Once it\u2019s pulled from the earth, the leaves are removed and the\u00a0pi\u00f1a gets roasted to release its natural\u00a0sugars.<\/p>\n

Fermentation occurs when\u00a0cooked agaves are mashed to a pulp and combined with water and yeast. After sitting for days, those\u00a0sugars turn into alcohol. The liquid is then run through a still at least twice to refine it into a drinkable spirit.<\/p>\n

There are industrial\u00a0mezcal producers (often companies owned by Americans), but most\u00a0mezcals are made in rural areas by Mexican families who don\u2019t have access to expensive machinery. Farming, harvesting, and\u00a0distillation processes have been passed down for generations and distillers, known as mezcaleros, have found creative ways to fabricate the equipment they need for\u00a0mezcal production. A hole in the ground can be an oven, if you put your back into it. Need portable\u00a0fermentation tanks? Rawhide will do. Want a\u00a0mezcal with a fuller mouthfeel? Make your still from\u00a0clay pots. Where there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way.<\/p>\n

Types of Mezcal<\/h2>\n

Not all\u00a0mezcals have a\u00a0smoky flavor. The smokiness comes from the traditional method of roasting\u00a0magueys in a pit covered with firewood and rocks. However, some\u00a0mezcals taste bright and delicate, while others are herbaceous and viscous. Flavor varies based on the varietal, age, and terroir of the\u00a0agave plant, as well as the water and production process.<\/p>\n

The most produced\u00a0type of mezcal is the ensamble. This is when a mezcalero takes different\u00a0species of agave and roasts,\u00a0ferments, and distills them together to balance flavors. There are also\u00a0mezcals made from a single\u00a0type of agave, and blends that mix\u00a0mezcals after distillation.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s pechuga. Loosely translated, this means \u201cbreast.\u201d The term refers to the animal breast, usually chicken, that\u2019s hung over the still to impart savory flavors. Pechuga is made in small batches for special occasions like festivals and weddings. If you can find one, it\u2019ll cost you a pretty peso.<\/p>\n

Once distilled,\u00a0mezcal\u2019s stored in food-grade plastic or glass, and ultimately bottled\u00a0joven (unaged). When it comes to\u00a0alcohol content, the range will be 40\u201355% ABV, a little stronger than your average vodka or scotch.<\/p>\n

Reposado and\u00a0anejo\u00a0mezcals aren\u2019t as common because barrel-aging imparts flavors that detract from the natural taste of the\u00a0mezcal. Besides, outside of the\u00a0state of Jalisco where\u00a0tequila\u2019s made,\u00a0oak barrels aren\u2019t readily available in\u00a0Mexico. Only\u00a0tequila gets that treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regulations and the Law<\/h2>\n

This wouldn\u2019t be a proper article about booze if we didn\u2019t address liquor laws and the quasi-illegal shenanigans surrounding their enforcement. The\u00a0Mexican government relies on four \u201cindependent\u201d companies to regulate\u00a0mezcal. The Consejo Regulador del\u00a0Mezcal (CRM) is the biggest and most influential.<\/p>\n

Many traditional mezcaleros ignore the CRM\u2019s regulations because they view it as a pay-to-play system, which they either can\u2019t afford or don\u2019t want to endorse. Additionally, the CRM limits\u00a0mezcal\u2019s Denominacion de Origen (DO) to 10 of the 32\u00a0Mexican states.\u00a0Oaxaca is probably the one you\u2019ve heard of, but there\u2019s also\u00a0Durango,\u00a0Guanajuato,\u00a0Guerrero,\u00a0Michoacan,\u00a0Puebla,\u00a0Tamaulipas,\u00a0San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, and\u00a0Zacatecas. The result is that some of the most authentic, family-owned\u00a0distilleries make \u201cagave spirits\u201d because their\u00a0mezcal can\u2019t legally be called\u00a0mezcal.<\/p>\n

Shopping Tips<\/h2>\n

My three rules when shopping for\u00a0mezcal: (1) Celebrity brands overcharge and underdeliver; (2) glass is hard to come by in rural\u00a0Mexico, so elaborate bottles aren\u2019t good\u00a0mezcal, they\u2019re good marketing; (3) the label should be transparent about who, what, where, when, and how it was made.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n OJ Lima<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like wine or beer,\u00a0mezcal is a blanket term. In its broadest definition, it\u2019s any\u00a0distilled spirit made from the\u00a0agave plant, which is known in\u00a0Mexico as a\u00a0maguey.\u00a0Mezcal is meant to be sipped neat in small cups, but in the hands of a trustworthy\u00a0bartender, a\u00a0mezcal cocktail is a winning situation. Today, we\u2019re digging into how it gets made.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":595408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534,117779],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-595407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-financial","8":"category-mezcal"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}