96. How to make mezcal (tequila)

Thursday, 28 March 2019

Oaxaca, Mexico

Breakfast being watched over by an alligator.

Stuffed and stuck on the hotel kitchen wall.

Or is it a crocodile.

Better not smile.

Just in case.

Set high up in the mountains overlooking at 6,000ft, Monte Alban is a Zapotec complex of pyramids and temples dating from 500BC to 750AD. One of the earliest complexes of Meso America. Having already seen a number of pyramids on this trip, one finds that they’re all not too dissimilar.

When you’ve seen one. You’ve generally seen ‘em all. Sort of thing.

Final temple complex is in Mitle, about an hour away. Now this is site doesn’t have pyramids per se. It’s a set of temples dating back to 1000AD. A series of artists impressions in the entrance show how it would have looked and it’s impressive. White facades with red detailing of the ornate stonework. They know it was white and red as the coloured stucco is still in-situ in places. Albeit subjected to 1000 years of graffiti. Including the Mexican equivalent of Darren loves Tracey.

And that’s me done with Meso American temple complexes. No more. When planning this trip had originally planned on travelling from Guatemala through Belize and then through the Yucutan peninsular area of Mexico, pretty much visiting temple complexes every day for about two weeks.

So glad I didn’t. All templed out now. And having to listen to a guide give detailed information for hours on end each day is wearing.

However, my local guide in Oaxaca is very easy to listen to. A former teacher of local history to tourism students he’s got that rare knack in teachers that I’m wanting to listen to him.

Given a choice of seeing how they do weaving or make tequila.

Yeah.

Tricky one that.

As mentioned in an earlier blog (which you’ve all forgotten about now I bet), there’s tequila and mezcal. Tequila is made in a certain area (like Cognac) and is made from blue agave only and is, generally, mass produced. Mezcal is seemingly more artisan and locally produced. The area surrounding Oaxaca has the right conditions to grow the agave used for making mezcal.

So. Pay attention. You might learn something in the next bit, in conjunction with the photos below.

First, they take the agave plant, cut off the leaves so they’re just left with the heart of the cactus.

This is then put in a fire pit under a load of hot stones to bake for 24hrs which turns the green agave into a brown, sticky, sweet lump. Once cooled down, it’s put on a grind stone whereupon a donkey pulls the grinding stone roller around to grind the agave heart into a squashed fibrous pulp.

Fibrous pulp is then steeped in water in a large wooden open vat for 4 to 12 days depending on the ambient temperature. 4 days in the height of summer, 12 days in winter when it’s cooler. Whereupon it starts to ferment. Natural sugars in the agave plus natural yeast in the atmosphere. Bit like sourdough. Nothing else is added. It’s solely agave heart with nothing added apart from water.

Once fermented, the water is drained to leave damp fibrous material. It’s this damp fibrous material that is then placed in the copper stills and heated up by the wood fire beneath. This causes steam to rise through the copper pipe which feeds through a cold water tank to condense it and the condensate is captured in a plastic container.

Voila. Alcohol.

Aged for up to 5 years and sometimes scorpions and worms are added to the bottled product for extra flavour. So I am told.

Stopped off at a very basic ‘factory’. I use the term loosely. It’s just an open covered area with a fire pit, grinding stone, water tank and two copper stills over a fire. Having had the tour am offered a sip or two. One mezcal is dark coloured and tastes quite smoky and smooth. One mezcal is a clear coloured and tastes quite sharp and spirity. Oh. And it had a worm in the bottle.

Not really my thing. Much prefer a whisky. Jamesons for everyday drinking. Singleton Single Malt for special occasions…or when I’m raiding Dad’s whisky selection.

Final stop at Thule. To see the tree.

Now. You’re probably thinking to yourself. Why go see a tree.

Well.

Look at the photos below.

It’s massive.

It dwarfs the church it stands next to.

More than 2,000 years old. 58m girth. 42m high. 14m diameter.

Yep.

It’s big.

Most impressive.

Guide tells me that when he was a kid you could go and hide in one of the holes that had formed in the trunk. Now it’s all fenced off and better cared for.

Which reminds me I did the same in Robin Hood’s Major Oak, in the 1970s, before they fenced it off.

Except this tree is bigger.

More a structure than a tree.