(Krishna Prasad Nukala is a dear friend of mine - a fine cricketer, lover of life and all the fine things in it and more importantly a Malt Maniac. A brief about him in his own words.
Krishna Nukala (b 1955) lives in Hyderabad. After working 35 years in banking and a Multinational Company, Krishna is now retired and spends time in pursuit of QAVP (Questio Aqua Vitae Perfectum). Besides whisky being his passion, his chief mission also is to spread the message of Malt Whisky in India. He frequently contributes whisky related articles in various Magazines and also does consultation on investments in Rare and Collectible whiskies, cognacs, rums and mezcal. Krishna has been in the judging panel of whiskies for the famous Malt Maniacs Awards since 2003.
This is an article he wrote about an interesting spirit called Mezcal. Read it and savour it.)
The national drink of Mexico is Taquila. Perhaps no other drink of any
nation evokes such emotion and passion in its people than Tequila. But what are
Tequila and Mezcal? Well, they are similar to blood brothers evolving from same lineage
of arid shrubs and botanists put them under family of Asparagaceae**.But
what is the difference between Tequila and Mezcal? All Mezcal is Tequila but
not all Tequila is not Mezcal. Confused? Well, let me put in simple terms by
delving into some history and geography!
 |
| Templo de Santo Domingo Guzman |
There are over 250 varieties of agave in the world and in Mexico alone
you get more than 200 of them. Of all the varieties of Agave, Tequila can be
made ONLY from Blue Agave (Agave Azul or Agave Tequilana) and not
any other agave. But Mezcal can be made from any Agave plant that is locally
grown or available. And what is so special about Mezcal?For this one has to go
back to Zapotec history of southern Mexico! Historically Mexico had four major
civilizations. The Olmecs, Aztecs, Mayans and the Zapotecs. Zapotecs inhabited
the valley of Oaxaca (pronounced Ohaka). Remember the movie Apocalypto? Mel
Gibson shot much of his movie here. Oaxaca borderswith Guatemala in the south
and stretches as far as up to Pacific in the west. It is amazing to know that
while almost of all the other civilizations have been wiped out, the Zapotecs
still follow the traditions and retained their language even today which is
widely spoken in place of Spanish.
The name Mezcal has an Aztec origin “Nahuatl Mexcalli” which means
overcooked Agave and the Zapotecs considered the plant very auspicious and used
it extensively during all religious occasions. The Spanish in 1500s brought
distillation to Mexico and viola, the Zapotecs immediately found a better usage
of the plant! The spirit became a household item and center to all kinds of
religious and social occasions, the most famous being the Dia de Los Muertos,
(the day of the dead), a festival celebrated in memory of all near and dear
ones.
 |
| Tacos |
The Plant and the Process
The life of agave various between 10 to 25 years, the most common being
10 to 15 years and those of wild and exoticbeing 15 to 25 years. It is a tall,
greenish, spiky plant and has to be handled carefully. The juice is extracted
from very heavy, bulbous stems (called pinas) often weighing up to 40 kg. Once
the stem is harvested, the plant dies. Hence one can understand why good
Tequila and Mezcal are in short supply and there are more spurious/duplicate
tequilas and mezcals around the world.
 |
| Agave Plantation |
 |
| San Pablo Mitla, a tiny village in Oaxaca |
The matured stem is uprooted from the ground and transported to the
mezcalaria. Here the pinas are pit roasted.
A large pit is dug where the cut agave is dumped along with fire wood
(often the dried parts of various agave plants), stones, earth and the whole
pit is covered with tarpaulin or some cloth and the agave is left to cook in
the slow fire lasting three to seven days. The result is slow caramelization of
the pinas which is called maguey and is soft and juicy. When it is
squeezed the syrup that oozes out of it is smoky and is as sweet as any maple
syrup or honey.
 |
| Agave with flowers |
 |
| Tiny Mezcal unit |
The next process is fermentation of the cooked agave. To ferment the maguey, it has to be crushed into pulp. In order to crush the cooked agave, a one-ton wheeled stone is slowly pulled by a horse or a donkey and the resulting juices are transferred into large tanks for fermentation. The Oaxacans call this process a Tahona.
The crushed pulp along with agave juices is rich
in naturally occurring yeast and most often the artisanal mezcalarias do not
use outside yeast for fermentation. The resulting vats are musty and smell
intoxicatingly sweet. Fermentation takes place for a period varying between 24
to 48 hours depending upon the house style of the Mezcalaria. The yeast and
bacteria eat up the sugars to convert it into ethanol and CO2. Once the
fermentation is over the resultant liquid is sent for distillation.
 |
| Cooked agave (mague) |
Distillation is the most romantic part in the spirits industry. The
chief aim of distillation is to get higher strength of alcohol from the ferment
which is low in alcohol strength. Unlike the Scottish industry where the stills
are gigantic holding tens of thousands of liters of spirit, the stills in
Mezcalarias are tiny. Most of them do not even hold 100 liters at a time. Traditionally
the Oaxacans distilled the must in clay pots and after the Spanish conquest,
copper pot distillation was introduced. Distillation is twice. The first
distillation yields about 30% to 35% abv (alcohol by volume) and the second
distillation takes it to 70%. The final spirit is collected in big glass jars
or bottles which hold up to 10 to 50 liters per batch.
Storage and aging
Unlike whisky industry where the spirit has to aged for a minimum of
three years, there is no restrictions in aging Tequila or Mezcal. However,
there are different styles of Mezcals that are bottled nowadays.
 |
| Young Mezcal stored in bottles |
1)
Completely
new. Just bottled right after distillation
2)
Mezcal
that is aged in large glass bottles for few months and kept in dark warehouses
3)
Mezcals aged
in wooded barrels for a period up to one year
4)
Mezcal
that is aged more than a year in wooden barrels
Types of Agave plants in Oaxaca
There are several agaves from which Mezcal is produced. But the most
complex and sought after are Tepextate, Tobala, Espadin, Cuishe, Arroqueno etc.
which are wild varieties that take from 20 to 25 years to mature and fit for
harvesting.
 |
| Cut agave from the field |
Tasting a Mezcal
Mezcal is traditionally enjoyed in small rounded shallow clay bowls at
around 40% strength. Just as in tasting any spirits, you have to determine
yourself where you want to stand in tasting; enjoyment or appreciation? If you
want to enjoy a mezcal go ahead and enjoy with ice, orange, lemonade or even
cola. But if you are in a typical Oaxacan bar sitting Infront of a chivalrous
bar tender, he would offer you a neat mezcal with a traditional accompaniment
called- Gusano (means a worm in Spanish). This is a mix of salt with
dried and crushed worm of the agave plant and it is said to enhance the
flavors. Apart from this the bar tender can come out withseveral cocktails using
any Mezcal.
Tasting Mezcal neat
This is where you get to know the stuff. You do not add anything- no
water ice or anything. You need to taste in a nice copita or a distiller’s
tasting glass to get the maximum of flavors. Artisanal Tepextate, Tobala and
Cuishe Mezcals are all earthy and smoky. They are deliciously sweet and
amazingly smooth despite being a nascent spirit just out of stills. This is
where Mezcals would blow you out when compared to whiskies. Whiskies need several
years to smoothen the rough edges of spirit, but Mezcal doesn’t need to age at
all. The Mezcals offer lot of vanilla, butterscotch and mint flavors with an
unmistakable smoky finish.
Viva Oaxaca!
**Agave is an arid plant that grows abundantly in dry and non-aqueous
regions. You can find this in our own country sides growing in the wild and
along road sides. In Hindi it is called Rambaas and in Telugu it is
called Narajemudu. It is widely known in almost all states of India and
has significant medicinal references in Ayurveda).
