• SHOP IN STORE
  • EXPRESS DELIVERY
  • CLICK & COLLECT

    Suggestions

    €0,00

    Out of stock

    WHAT IS MEZCAL

    Filter

      0 Products

        Seen 0 of the 0 products

        WHAT IS MEZCAL?

        Mezcal AncestralMezcal ArtesanalMezcal 
        CookingCooking the agave hearts in pit ovens... or above-ground stone ovens

        		... or autoclave.

        (also processing only the juice allowed)

        Grindwith wooden or stone hammers or in ancient stone mills (e.g. Tahona)... or with a mechanical shredder... or in the diffuser (also before cooking - see above).
        Fermentationin containers made of stone, wood, clay or animal skins... or steel tanks.
        Destillationover an open fire in clay pots with clay or wooden containers...or in copper stills with stainless steel catch pots... that in continuous column combustors.

        Mezcal is defined according to the above Mexican regulation as a spirit made from 100% agave from certain areas of Mexico, which is fermented with wild or cultivated yeasts and then distilled, whereby a characteristic aroma and taste of the agave of the terroir and the production process must be recognizable. The addition of sweeteners, colourings, aromas and flavorings is permitted.
        Before 2017 there were still mezcals in which up to 49% other starch sources could be added. Fortunately, this is no longer the case and every Mezcal is "100% Agave". Fortunately, the regulation also describes a few more details and defines three categories for mezcal with very different requirements.

        The most strictly regulated category is the Mezcal Ancestral, which has to follow the traditional manufacturing process of hundreds of years ago. This is followed by the Mezcal Artesanal, which also requires manual production, but with fewer requirements. Ultimately, there is also a category for spirits from the industrial manufacturing process, namely simply the Mezcal, which accounts for the bulk of the entire Mezcal production by a huge margin.

        And right at the outset we want to make it clear that there are delicious products in the last category as well. First of all, taste is subjective anyway and it doesn't always have to be the most complex, sustainable and elaborate spirit. Sometimes an inexpensive Mezcal is enough for a smoky influence in the cocktail! It would only be nice if more consumers were at least aware of the differences in order to make more conscious decisions. We're trying to encourage that with a first brief look at this complex spirit.

        Raw material

        For the production of mezcal, only

        cultivated or wild agaves are used,
        whose maturation process is complete,
        who come from one of the specified regions of Mexico and
        whose harvest has been officially permitted.
        Harvest and trimming (corte)
        Harvest and trimming (corte)

        Of course, to start making mezcal, you first have to get hold of the agaves. Any agave used in mezcal, whether found wild in nature or bred and cultivated in plantations, must be reported to the relevant authorities along with its geographic location, and even transporting the harvested agave requires a government license.
        Harvesting time is necessarily determined by when the agave is 'ripe'. This is the case when the plant begins to sprout its flowering shoots, which incidentally only happens once in the life of the agave and, depending on the agave species and climatic conditions, only after 7 to over 25 years. The flowering stem is now cut off as quickly as possible by the Jimador, who is responsible for the harvest, so that all the energy of the plant goes into the growth of the heart over the next few days.

        After a few days, up to three weeks, the agave is then harvested, whereby first the leaves are cut off with the coa (a round blade on a long stick) or machete and the heart of the agave remains, that because of its many species of a Pineapple-like shape is also called piña . In the case of the large Espadin agave, for example, these can weigh over 75 kg, whereas the piña of a Tobalá only weighs a few kilograms.

        But not only the agave species has a decisive influence on the taste of the later Mezcal, but also the terroir (climate, soil, other natural influences during the growing season) and even the way in which the leaves of the agave are cut off by the Jimador during harvest , or how much 'green' remains on the agave heart.

        Cooking 

        In contrast to fruit, in which fructose and glucose can be fermented directly, but also e.g. grain, in which the starch, i.e. polysaccharides from glucose, can be converted into fermentable sugar by enzymatic processes, agaves also store their energy due to the dry growth conditions in complex fructose polymers, also called fructans. In order to be able to ferment them, thermal decomposition is necessary, which is why the agaves must first be baked.

        Let's start with the Mezcal Ancestral as this is the strictest category.

        In order to break down the starch, the agave hearts have to be cooked - or rather baked - in a pit oven. For this purpose, a hole in the ground is dug, a wood fire is lit in it and covered with stones, which heat up over many hours. When the fire is almost gone, the agave hearts (often cut into halves or quarters, depending on their size) are placed on the glowing stones - usually with a protective layer of moist agave fibers from the last production run in between. When all the agaves are on the stones, a mound of earth is piled up on top of it, and the oven is closed with it. The agaves now bake for several days and are in direct contact with smoke from the fire and the earth around them, giving them a characteristically smoky flavor.

        The Mezcalero master, who is responsible for the entire manufacturing process, can determine the type, quantity and arrangement of the wood, the number and size of the stones, the waiting time before baking and the baking time, if necessary a small hole in the oven, into the water is given to control the temperature and countless other small measures already influence the character of the later Mezcal here. It is easy to see that this primordial process requires an incredible amount of experience and intuition. It's nothing short of an art.

        Eduardo "Lalo" Ángeles Carreño, the first mezcalero of our Sapalabras Mezcal Ancestral is not only a fourth-generation master mezcalero, but has dedicated his entire life to making mezcals. Since childhood, he has worked in the family business with his late 2016 father Don Edoardo, a legend in mezcal making, before studying agricultural engineering and starting his own mezcal production in his hometown of Santa Catarina Minas. Right from the start (even before it was so strictly regulated by law) he not only focused on sustainability (an increasingly important issue due to growing demand and the industrialization of production, including monocultures and the already declining biodiversity of agaves), but also selected the most original possible manufacturing process. The effort involved is enormous - but the incomparable taste is worth it in our eyes, quite apart from the other aspects!

        His successor and long-time student José Luis Sánchez "Shonga", himself a third-generation master mezcalero, who has been responsible for production since 2021, continues this tradition unbroken, even if he of course also put his personal touch a little more strongly into the process brings.

        The agaves for the Mezcal Artesanal may also be baked in pit ovens, but normal (above ground) ovens made of bricks are also permitted. Still handcrafted, but of course much easier to use, since the heating fire can be regulated here and the temperature can be influenced much more directly, which can also speed up the process enormously. In addition, the agaves are usually exposed to the smoke for a shorter and more indirect manner. Also for our Demócrata Mezcal Artesanal the agaves are baked in the same pit ovens of lava stones heated over direct fire.

        The simplest method of making mezcal also allows for the use of autoclaves (steel pressure vessels - basically a pressure cooker) and doesn't even require using the agaves themselves, you can just squeeze the juice and process it. This again saves an enormous amount of time during production.

        Grind

        After the agaves have been boiled or baked, the starch is converted into sugar and at least during the manufacturing process for Mezcal Ancestral the sugar is already partly caramelized. The agaves taste incredibly delicious, sweet, smoky, earthy, complex... Everyone should try the lucky enough to get a piece of agave cut off the mezcalero.

        In the next step, the rather large agave pieces have to be cut up after a cooling time determined by the mezcalero. Only wooden or stone hammers operated by human hands, a stone mill wheel (usually pulled by a donkey), the so-called "Tahona", or comparable ancient stone wheel mills are permitted for the Mezcal Ancestral. The tahona is also used in our Demócrata Mezcal Artesanal , while in the Sacapalabras Mezcal Ancestral as can be seen in the photo, large mallets and a lot of human muscle power are used to break up the agave fibers. The regulations for Mezcal Artesanal also allow mills, such as those we know from olive oil production, and even electrically operated choppers.

        For the industrial manufacturing process of the mezcal, it goes even further, since not only any type of grinder is allowed, but also diffusers. Basically, if you look closely at the previous step, it becomes clear that something must be different here, since the pure juice of the agaves can be used for the production and the agaves themselves do not have to be cooked. Here, the agaves are crushed before the starch is converted into sugar. The topic of highly efficient industrial production is no less complex than the old-fashioned production, but probably much less appealing to most connoisseurs. We found a great blog post that goes into great detail on how to use autoclaves and diffusers. A very brief description of how to cook and grind to maximize sugar content and minimize process time goes something like this: Raw agaves are shredded in a shredder and passed into a diffuser where they are treated with high pressure steam and the juice is squeezed out before the juice goes into the autoclaves, where again under pressure, with high temperature and the catalysing (process accelerating) use of sulfuric acid, the starch is converted into sugar, whereby the manufacturers of the plants promise less than 1% loss of sugar and thus a maximum yield.

        Fermentation

        In fermentation, only the type of container is regulated by law. While simple holes in stones, hollowed-out tree stumps and also containers made of animal skins, wood or clay are permitted for Mezcal Ancestral and Artesanal, the regulation for the fermentation of industrial Mezcal also permits steel tanks.

        In particular, the use of industrial cultured yeasts is allowed in all categories to convert the sugars of the mash into alcohol. With sacapalabras and demócrata, our Mezcalero naturally does not use them and only lets the wild yeasts that are in the air and on the fermentation tank itself work. The vats are made from the local Mexican bald cypress. In addition, he puts all parts of the agave, including the fibers, into the wooden tank in order to capture and develop the characteristic taste of the different agave species in the mash. Of course, it is faster and cheaper if you only ferment the juice.

        With spontaneous fermentation by wild yeasts, which can last over a week, the mash comes to an alcohol content of only about 5-8%, while industrial yeasts can also achieve values of over 15% within a few hours - more efficiency in every step, but also less and less original taste.

        Distillation

        In order to produce a spirit and to increase the alcohol content of the drink, distillation is necessary. To put it simply, the mash is simply heated and the alcohol, which evaporates at a lower temperature than water, is collected.

        For the Mezcal Ancestral, a clay pot heated with an open fire and a clay or wooden container must be used, while the Artesanal category already allows the use of modern copper stills and stainless steel for the tubes and containers. Industrial mezcal can be distilled in almost any way, which in particular allows the use of columns and continuous distillation.

        The difference in effort is enormous, as one can easily imagine. While with Mezcal Ancestral the clay pot has to be filled, emptied and cleaned for each (hour-long) firing process and there is a high proportion of losses each time, Mezcal can be produced continuously with the industrial process: the mash is simply poured into one side of the machine, the spirit comes out on the other side. No waste, no conversion loss, again maximum efficiency.

        Lovers of other spirits - e.g. whiskey - will know the difference between continuous distillation (e.g. grain whiskey / simple blends) and the discontinuous process (pot still with e.g. high-quality single malts). In order to achieve the desired alcohol content, two distillation processes are usually necessary, with the first step producing a rough spirit with around 20-30% vol from the mash, which is then distilled in a second step to usually around 50% vol. Dilution with water to drinking strength is permitted, but of course the  Sacapalabras Mezcal Ancestral is bottled the way it runs out of the still, which is also reflected in the 'crooked' alcohol content that changes from one production run to the next.

        The Ancestral process is said to go back to a more than 2,500-year-old tradition in what is now Mexico, although numerous indications have now been found that point to a pre-Hispanic distillation and support the theory. Not only is it distilled in a clay pot instead of a copper still, but the process also differs from all other common ones, since both the boiling process and the condensation take place within the still. The clay pot is filled with the fermented agaves and heated directly with fire from below so that alcoholic vapors rise. A bowl cooled with water is placed on an opening at the top of the clay pot, on which the vapors condense. But instead of simply dripping back into the boiling liquid, a small bowl is hung in the middle of the pot, which catches part of the condensate and directs it to the outside via a wooden tube. With more modern firing processes, the vapors are immediately discharged from the still and then cooled, which allows for significantly higher efficiency and process speed.

        The additional special feature of Sapalabras Mezcal Ancestral is that it not only complies with the already very strict legal requirements of the category, but goes one step further by not only processing the juice of the agaves, but also the fibers throughout the entire production process of the plants are used to capture the full flavor of the different agaves. In addition, only wild yeasts are used in its production, which of course makes production more difficult, lengthy and somewhat unpredictable, but in the end it is the uncompromising implementation of the original production - even if it is not required by law.
        Of course, nothing is added to the distilled Sacapalabras Mezcal Ancestral before it is bottled. No water and certainly no dyes, flavors, and whatever else would be allowed.

        The Demócrata Mezcal Artesanal was created with the intention that everyone should be able to afford great, artisanal mezcal. Considerable effort and expense can be saved by selecting cultivated Espadin agaves and distilling them in a copper still. The distillate is nevertheless of excellent quality and not only meets the Artesanal criteria, but even the requirements for a Mezcal Ancestral, with the exception of the still. Cooking takes place in the same earth ovens, grinding uses a donkey-powered stone mill, the Tahona, and fermentation takes place in the open air with wild yeasts in a wooden barrel - just like the Sacapalabras.

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        • All your orders and returns in one place
        • The ordering process is even faster
        • Your shopping cart stored, always and everywhere

        Create an account

        compare0

        South Embassy / - Reviews @
        Please accept cookies to help us improve this website Is this OK? YesNoMore on cookies »