PRODUCTION
AGAVE & HARVESTING
Depending on the type, agave plants take anywhere from 5 years to 30+ years to mature and be ready for harvest. Julio grows all his agave from seed in nurseries, and when the plant is a few years old, his team takes it to the hills to plant. Depending on the type of agave, some are planted in fields, and others are planted in the trees on the hillsides surrounding his palenque. There, they stay until harvest time.
After Julio’s agaves reach maturity, the team heads to the fields. Not all agaves will be ready at the same time, so everything must be hand-harvested. The pancreas, or leaves, are removed from the piña, or heart, of the agave. These trimmed agaves are often left in the field for a few days before being removed, usually by mules, as the terrain is often unsuitable for trucks.
ROAST
The agave is roasted in a fire-heated, earthen pit oven; this is specific to traditional mezcal production. The pit is dug into the ground and lined with volcanic rock. Wood is placed in the bottom and lit, then covered by more rock, which heats to enable a slow roast over several days. The piñas are then piled into the ovens, using a layer of agave fibres left from the first distillation (called bagazo) to protect them from scorching on the rocks, then covered with cloth covering and dirt to seal in the heat.
MILL & FERMENT
After the agave has been roasted, cooled and milled, the fibres are placed into open wooden ferment vats with well water, undertaking a natural fermentation process utilising the natural airborne wild yeasts unique to the location. This process takes anywhere from three days to a week, depending on the climate, and this is where the magical complex flavours for the final product are created.
A traditional Mezcalero will watch, listen to, smell, touch, and taste the fermenting mash more frequently as the sugar content drops and alcohol rises to know when it’s ready for distillation.
DISTILLATION
Once the juice is fermented, it is transported to the copper pot stills, fired by wood. Distillation separates the components in a liquid mixture by boiling then condensation. Mezcal may be distilled once, twice, or three times. But double-distillation is most common in Oaxaca.
The first distillation liquid is called ordinario, and is distilled a second time. The second distillation is cut into 3 parts, heads, hearts and tails, and this is what the maestro used to blend together to create a unique mezcal.
The blended mezcal is left to rest for several weeks to allow the flavours to settle. Finally, the mezcal is ready to be bottled.
