Los Danzantes Mezcal May 15, 2020

Hey peeps. What's up!!! I'm back watching the show This is México that is shown on the Tastemade network. The program is hosted by Mexican born chef Gerardo Lopez and focuses on traditional Mexican food, drink and culture. In the episode Making Mezcal in Oaxaca Lopez is in the town of Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca, which is considered the "World Capital of Mezcal."  They are profiling the Los Danzantes Destileria.

Image Courtesy of LosDanzantes.com

 As with tequila, Mexico has a designated area specified by la denominación de origen which was established in 1996 by the Mexican government. This means that only spirits made in this Mexican state can be called mezcal. Mezcal and tequila are very similar in that they are produced from the agave plant. Mezcal come from the maguey plant while tequila comes from the blue weber agave plant. Both are grown, and cultivated in similar ways. Where the process differs comes from the processing.


Where the agave piñas for tequila are cooked in ovens, mezcal producers such as the profiled Los Danzantes Distillery hark back to the methods used by the natives to cook the maguey piñas. The website for Los Danzantes describes the process:

For six hours beginning at dawn, burning wood warms the river stones heating the inside of the oven. Then they are covered with a damp coating of maguey fibers, on top of which are placed the piñas (the heart of the maguey) in the shape of a pyramid. Finally, everything is covered with a layer of empty sacks and sealed in the underground oven for three days.

The smokiness and earthiness profile of the mezcal comes from this method of cooking. The word for Mezcal is actually a combination of two Nahuatl words:

Mexcalli = Agave
Ixcalli = Underground pit oven cooked

For those of you who don't know, the Nahuatl are a member of a group of peoples native to southern Mexico and Central America, including the Aztecs. Oaxaca is the district in Mexico that had the highest percentage of natives. As was stated in the program, the natives fled into the mountains when the Spaniards arrived. In doing so, native culture and customs stayed intact and has survived the centuries to today.

Another distinctive feature of the method for producing Mezcal is extraction of the mezal. Unlike some distillers that use modern methods, Los Danzantes uses native methods for extraction. Pre-Columbian natives initially used a hammers to pound the liquid from the cooked piñas. After the arrival of the Spaniards with their horses, extraction was upgraded in the method used by Los Danzantes:

Once the maguey is removed from the warm interior of the earth and cooled, it is crushed in a stone mill, where Samson the horse pulls a quarry rock wheel. The action of the quarry rock wheel releases the sugars and juices that later become alcohol.

The juices and the pulp fibers of the plant go into fermentation tanks for six days while natural yeast converts it into a fermented liquid which is called tepache. This goes into the distillation still with the pulp for a double distillation. The first distillation separates the solids and impurities while the second distillation refines the process. What happens next comes from the Los Danzantes website:

During the second distillation, we refine the product, separating the ends, body, and tails, and extracting the aroma and flavors produced during fermentation. Then, a master mezcalero uses a technique called veneciar – with the help of a hollow cane and a calabash bowl – to measure the alcohol content. He does this by observing the shape, size and duration of ‘pearling’, a traditional technique used to measure alcohol content.

In this case, the master mezcalero is master mezcalera Karina Abad.

Los Dazantes Destileria has been making mezcal since purchasing a disused mezcal distillery in Santiago Matatlán in 1997. Their five year plan became a twenty year plan. Why? Well, as someone who has worked in the bar business since 1995, not only was mezcal not a popular spirit but it wasn't even known to many in the 1990s.

I would say that mezcal started to become a mainstream popular spirit within the last five to ten years. Prior to 2015 you had to go to a tequila bar such as the now closed Mayahuel to find a selection of mezcals. Now you can walk into most bars and find at least one mezcal. Finn's Corner Pub where I bartend has two (Mezcal Unión Uno and Mezcal Montelobos.) Mezcal is much easier to come by these days.

Photo Courtesy of LosDanzantes.com

Los Danzantes has three core mezcals that are made with 100% Maguey Espadín (Agave angustifolia Haw):

• Joven/Blanco
• Reposado (aged 9 months, 70% of the time in American white oak barrels and 30% of the time in French white oak barrels)
• Anejo (aged for 16 months: 70% of the time in American white oak barrels and 30% of the time in French white oak barrels)

The barrels are only used by Los Danzantes and have never held any other spirit than their mezcal. They also have a couple of special mezcals that they make on a seasonal basis including a Joven made with the wild Tobalá maguey (Agave potatorum Zucc.) and the Pechuga. Don't know what Pechuga is? If you know that the word pechuga in Spanish means breast, then you're mind must be  wondering how a breast plays into making mezcal. I'll let them describe their mezcal Pechuga in their own words:

This artisanal mezcal is produced using 100% maguey Espadín (Agave angustifolia Haw.), from the Oaxaca Valley plains. Distilled three times, the last distillation involves a combination of seasonal fruit, spices and a creole hen. Finally, the elixir is dyed with Grana Cochinilla. This is a special offering to our gods and to everything that you kiss with your mouth.   

And with that I will bid you farewell.Be safe and be healthy out there folks.

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,
SiscoVanilla

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