Sun, Aug 07, 2022 page12

• Craft distillers fear mezcal will become victim of own success

  Deep-pocketed corporations looking to capitalize on the surging popularity of the drink have sought to simplify mezcal’s complex production with what craft distillers call ‘assembly plants’

  • By Yussel Gonzalez / AFP, VILLA SOLA DE VEGA, Mexico
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  With just a look, Sosima Olivera knows when her cherished agave plants will be ready to make mezcal, tequila’s lesser-known Mexican cousin whose fast-growing popularity is raising fears of overexploitation.

  The mezcal boom means a greater need for the land, water and firewood used to produce the smoky spirit, Olivera said.

  “This excess demand from national and international markets has consequences. If more plants are needed, of course there’s more exploitation,” said the 50-year-old, who heads a producers’ collective.

  

  Workers cook agave pineapple at the Real Minero mezcal distillery in Santa Catarina Minas, Mexico, on July 25.

  Photo: AFP

  Craft distillers like Olivera, who has dedicated her life to the process, aim to safeguard mezcal’s future with measures including seed banks and efforts to showcase artisanal methods.

  “A bottle sums up everything we’ve done for years,” she said, while touring a field in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca where magueys — a type of agave plant — grow slowly under the sun.

  Once drunk only in small Mexican communities, mezcal has enjoyed a surge in demand, at home and abroad.

  

  A person drinks below a neon signs reading: “If there is mezcal, there is love” at a stand selling the alcohol at the Mezcal Fair in Oaxaca, Mexico, on July 26. Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health

  Photo: AFP

  It is traditionally sipped neat, accompanied by slices of orange and salt mixed with dried chiles and ground agave worms.

  Nowadays, it can also be found on the menu in fashionable cocktail bars from New York to Tokyo.

  Celebrities who have jumped on the bandwagon include the costars of the hit television show Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, who founded the drinks company Dos Hombres.

  

  Sosima Olivera, a member of a collective that runs the mezcal factory Tres Colibries, walks in a field of agave in Villa Sola de Vega, Mexico, on July 26.

  Photo: AFP

  The value of Mexico’s mezcal exports skyrocketed from nearly US$20 million in 2015 to about US$63 million in 2020, official figures showed.

  The US, Canada, Spain, France and Germany are among the top consumers of the drink, which is produced in several Mexican states, but above all in Oaxaca.

  Although mezcal and tequila have similar production methods, some important differences set them apart.

  Tequila is made with blue agave in the western state of Jalisco.

  Mezcal uses other types — including highly prized wild magueys — some of which take 15 years or longer to mature.

  For that reason, producers such as Graciela Angeles believe it is crucial to preserve the plants for future generations.

  “What will happen to biological diversity? There are very few efforts to conserve these species,” said the 43-year-old creator of the Real Minero brand.

  “Without magueys there’s no mezcal,” added Angeles, who keeps seeds to ensure the plants would exist for her children to harvest one day.

  The complex process of mezcal production hinges largely on the distiller’s talent and sense of smell.

  With the arrival of deep-pocketed corporations, high-volume producers have become little more than “assembly plants” blending mezcal from different communities, Angeles said.

  On average, a 750 milliliter bottle costs about US$40 in Oaxaca, but the most exclusive varieties have a price tag of more than US$100.

  In the US, a limited edition bottle of Dos Hombres mezcal made from tobala agave sells for more than US$300.

  The mezcal produced by Olivera and Angeles is the result of a painstaking process dating back several generations — something they are determined will live on.

  “Small producers will always exist ... who know that we have to plant a certain amount of plants, distill a certain amount. There’s a balance in life,” Olivera said.

  Both women organize tastings to showcase the flavors and aromas of their products.

  In the city of Oaxaca, mezcal tasting has become a must-do for many tourists.

  Australian visitor Christopher Govers said he had learned all about the spirit “after falling in love with the taste and the effect.”

  “The history and culture behind it is connected with the taste,” he said at a bustling trade fair, where an illuminated sign read “Make Mezcal, Not War.”
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