1. MEZCAL: History, geography, culture, & production
Lorenz Agave Spirits

2. Objectives What is mezcal?
What are the different categories and classes of mezcal?
Where is mezcal produced?
What do we mean by wild agaves?
How are the agaves harvested?
How is mezcal made?
What is the history of mezcal?
What’s the difference between tequila and mezcal?
What’s the deal with the worm?

3. What is mezcal?
Spirit made from the cooked and fermented juice of the heart of a succulent plant
Agave sp. (~28-40 species, many varieties )
Not a cactus!
More related to yucca and lily
May be cultivated or wild (silvestre)
Distilled twice or more
Possibly aged in barrels
Bottled at 35-55% alcohol
Sometimes 38-40% alcohol
Artisanal mezcal bottled at 45-55%

4. What is mezcal?
Certified for export from only 8 states of Mexico and nowhere else
Traditionally produced all across Mexico
Regulated by the Consejo Mexicano Regulador de la Calidad del Mezcal A.C. (COMERCAM)
1994
Appellation of Origin designated by the Government of Mexico
2005
Mezcal NOM-070 (AOC) – Updated the Norm for the Mezcal name and production methods under a Denomination of Origin, agreed to by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

5. Agave Species Used Selected agave species used
Espadín (Agave angustifolia)
90% of Oaxacan mezcal
Tobala (Agave potatorum)

6. Agave Species Used Agave sp. Barril (Agave karwinskii var.)
Madrecuixe (Agave karwinskii var.)
Blue agave (Agave tequilana)
Mexicano (Agave rhodacantha)
Arruqueño (Agave Americana var. Oaxacensis)
Tepeztate (Agave marmorata)
Many others…

7. Agave Species Used

8. Agave Species Used

9. Where is mezcal produced?
Mezcal’s Denomination of Origin
Oaxaca – 80+%
Zacatecas
San Luis Potosí
Guerrero
Durango
Guanajuato
Tamaulipas
Michoacan*

10. Where is mezcal produced?
Mezcal’s Denomination of Origin
Oaxaca

11. Where is mezcal produced?
Oaxaca
Santiago Matatlán, Tlacolula, San Agustín de las Juntas, Sola de Vega, Miahuatlán, Yautepec, Ocotlán, Ejutla, Zimatlán, etc.

12. Where is mezcal produced?
SAN JUAN DEL RIO, TLACOLULA

13. Where is mezcal produced?
SAN AGUSTÍN DE LAS JUNTAS

14. How are the agaves grown & harvested?
Harvested at maturity (between 8-15 years old)
Depends upon terroir factors – climate, altitude, soil, water 

15. How are the agaves grown & harvested?
Jima
Palenquero uses a machete or coa to remove pencas from the agave
What remains is the piña or cabeza
Pencas used for compost, fertilizer or fiber production
Small amounts may be added to fermentation process

16. How is mezcal made? Cooking the agaves to convert starch to sugar
Agave piñas are traditionally roasted in stone- lined pits over hot coals, and covered in bagazo or bagasse
A few are now roasted in hornos or autoclaves as with tequila

17. How is mezcal made?
Milling or crushing – Traditional
Molino or tahona

18. How is mezcal made? Fermenting the juice or mosto Open air Wild yeasts
Con bagazo or sin bagazo

19. How is mezcal made?
Distillation Methods

20. How is mezcal made? Distillation Methods Traditional
Batch – Pot still / Alembic still

21. How is mezcal made? Distillation Methods Traditional Mezcal de olla
Uses a clay pot instead of copper

22. How is mezcal made? Distillation Methods Modern
Batch – Pot still / Alembic still
Copper or stainless steel

23. How is mezcal made? Distillation Methods First Second Shi-shi (22-30%)

24. What are the categories and classes of mezcal?
Mezcal 100% agave
Mezcal (80% agave)
Joven (unaged)
Reposado (2-12 months)
Añejo (> 1 year)

25. How is mezcal made? Aging (or not) Factors Barrel wood type
Barrel toast/char
Temperature
Humidity
Alcohol content
New vs. used

26. When was mezcal first produced?
“Mezcal” – what’s in a name?
From Mezcalmetl or Mexcalli – Nahua terms meaning “agave/maguey that has been cooked”
Not “mescal”, no relation to mescaline
Central Highlands (Aztec) mythology indicates that a lightning strike on a large maguey first alerted ancient Mesoamericans to the benefits of roasting agaves

27. When was mezcal first produced?
Fermented mezcal – “mezcal beer”
Precursors
Evidence of agave heart consumption circa 7000 BC (Ocampo Caves, Tamaulipas)
Evidence of pit-roasting of agave hearts circa 5000 BC (Hinds Cave, Texas)
Done to convert starches to sugary sweet food or liquid
Still sold as candy in mercados today
Evidence of fermentation of this liquid circa 400 AD (Santa Barbara, Colima) – likely much earlier
Evidence of pre-hispanic distillation?

28. When was mezcal first produced?
Fermented mezcal/maguey
Commonly produced in West Mexico (Jalisco, Colima, Nayarít, Michoacan) in pre-Hispanic times
Called vino mezcal by 16th century Spaniards
Fermentation of baked or roasted agave piñas produced something very similar to the mosto used to distill mezcal & tequila
Technically a beer
Cooked, fermented, then drunk

29. When was mezcal first produced?
Pulque or octli poliqhui
200 AD or earlier
Central Mexico
Mainly used by political and religious elites in rituals
Taboos against commoners imbibing alcohol in the Aztec empire

30. When was mezcal first produced?
Pulque or octli poliqhui
Made by fermenting aguamiel
The fresh sap of certain maguey/agave species including Agave salmiana & A. angustifolia
Vessels included clay pots and animal skins

31. When was mezcal first produced?
Pulque or octli poliqhui
Approximately 3-5% alcohol
Like a sour, citric, milky, Belgian beer
Pulquerias undergoing a resurgence in Mexican cities today

32. When was mezcal first produced?
Spanish Mexico
1519 – Hernan Cortez makes first contact with Mexica/Aztecs at Tenochtitlan
1521 – Conquest
Spaniards brought distillation with them from the Old World
Alambiques or alembic stills from Moorish/Arab peoples
Once they ran out of the brandy they brought with them…

33. When was mezcal first produced?
Spanish Mexico
Sought to make brandy in Mexico
Tried to distill both fermented “mezcal beer” and pulque
Pulque less suitable
Complex carbohydrates (Inulin - polymerized fructose/starches) vs. simple (sugars)
Pulque magueys host certain unfavorable bacteria
Lower alcohol than fermented mosto of cooked agave
Settled upon fermented mezcal beverage
1535 – First recorded Spanish distillation of so- called vino mezcal

34. What is the relationship between tequila and mezcal?
Traditionally, tequila is a specific type of mezcal
Mezcal formerly had no Denomination of Origin
Before this time, it was said that
“All tequila is mezcal, but all mezcal is NOT tequila”
Mezcal was simply the main agave spirit made everywhere outside the tequila region, and with other agaves
Now, mezcal is a specific spirit (according to the COMERCAM and CRT) mutually exclusive from tequila in terms of type of agave and region

35. What about the worm?
Gimmick leading to ritual of consumption for machismo purposes
Gusano is an agave moth larvae & a pest
Many myths
Symbiotic to plant
Hallucinogenic to eat
Aphrodesiac to eat
If there’s any authenticity at all…
Oaxaceños have long consumed dried and seasoned insects and their larvae for protein
Today grasshoppers and dried worms with chile, spices and salt are popular snacks
Sal de gusano also an accompaniment to mezcal

36. Concluding remarks
Salud y gracias!

37. Resources Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube www.agavespirits.com
@tequilaexpo