On November 2, 2022, I performed a blind mezcal tasting in Toronto, with a colleague, Yvette Astorga. It was the fourth mezcal occasion we had performed over the previous decade or so, at our favourite Ontario agave distillate hang-out, Reposado Bar & Lounge. However this was our first blind tasting, providing 15 totally different merchandise to a gaggle of 26 attendees, a lot of whom had been already mezcal aficionados, and accordingly “within the know” if which means something.
I developed a booklet with 15 pages every the identical, pages numbered one by 15. There was house for nostril, palate and end, any idiosyncracies, a 1 – 10 ranking system, and at the same time as space for noting any pairing strategies. Every mezcal was served out of a numbered paper bag. Neither Yvette nor any of the servers had any thought what they had been pouring: if it was out there in Ontario, copper v. clay distilled, licensed or not. Every particular person was given 15 one-ounce plastic cups, numbered on the underside, and a small gourd or jicara for these wanting to permit the samples to breathe. Half ounce pours had been supplied, with every particular person free to request extra in that case inclined.
Every participant was given one in all my bilingual full-color tasting wheels with over 200 entries for taste and aroma. Every was additionally given water and small cup of espresso beans for cleaning the palate in that case inclined. And extra for making the occasion value-added, every was given beer, fish tacos and guacamole with totopos.
Each copper and clay had been represented albeit many extra of the previous. Varietals of species included espadin, tobala, tepeztate, cuixe, coyote, mexicano, tobasiche, an ensamble, barril, madrecuixe, arroqueno, and even a tobala punta. Yr of distillation ranged from 2017 to 2022, and ABV between 42 and 65, with a median of 48 – 50.
There have been surprises in the direction of the top of the occasion when outcomes had been collated and disclosed, and one in all my private predictions was borne out. The ancestral clay-distilled arroqueno by Felix Angeles Arellanes from Santa Catarina Minas took high honors, receiving extra first place votes than the remaining. Maybe considerably surprisingly, the copper-distilled arroqueno by Fortunato Hernandez from San Baltazar Chichicapam got here in an in depth second, particularly when contemplating that the remainder of Fortunato’s choices introduced his collection of mezcals into the night’s highlight. Between Felix and Fortunato, they acquired about half of the first-place votes. And arroqueno was the highest mezcal within the voting.
The ancestral clay-distilled tobasiche by Rosario Angeles, additionally from Santa Catarina Minas, additionally supplied considerably of a shock, although not for me. Her distillate took a first-place vote, moderately superb when contemplating that hers was positioned alongside Felix’s arroqueno and whereas Felix hails from a convention of mezcal makers courting again a number of generations, Rosario doesn’t come from a mezcal household and is 100% self-taught, having begun distilling in solely April, 2020. Cudos to her!
The three entries of Mezcal Profesor made by Artemio Garcia in copper from San Dionisio Ocotepec supplies Ontario residents with purpose for hope. The model’s mezcal made with espadin by Rodolfo Lopez Sosa from San Juan del Rio has been out there in Ontario for a few years, however en path to the province proper now are three further expressions made by a unique palenquero, offering agave distillate aficionados with extra choices within the close to future.
There have been two choices of Dos Hombres, distilled by Gregorio Velasco from San Luis del Rio. The model is a component owned by Hollywood stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston. One was a 42% espadin and the opposite a forty five% tobala. I knew that if attendees noticed the bottles when sampling and voting, they might price the 2 choices on the backside. That’s the character of the mezcal geeks who do not more than cry cultural appropriation with out realizing all the motivation of the celebrities nor the optimistic implications of movie star incursion into the business. However with a very blind tasting, as I had predicted, Dos Hombres’ espadin took a first-place vote (for its espadin), and its tobala additionally ranked nicely amongst the 15 entries.
The occasion concluded with a particular deal with, significantly apropos given the robust exhibiting of the mezcal of my compadre Fortunato Hernandez. Kyle Martin, a Canadian shopper of our mezcal instructional excursions, had lately returned to Toronto after having spent a month residing with Fortunato and household (spouse Victoria, daughter and son-in-law Estela and Pedro, and granddaughters Denise and Marely). The target had been for Kyle to really find out about mezcal manufacturing by residing with the household and through a month taking part in each stage of manufacturing. This had been the third time I had organized for such “Metropolis Slicker” experiences. Throughout that month Kyle would variously awake earlier than daybreak and head out with Fortunato and Pedro armed with mule and machetes, strolling into the hills for an hour to the place the agave was discovered; reducing it; returning with the pinas on the mule; empty the oven of bagazo, rocks and charcoal; minimize the agave into appropriately sized items; gentle and put together the oven adopted by baking the sealed oven; take away the baked pinas; chops them up; crush them with Fortunato’s horse; pitched the bazago into the fermentation vats; take away it and place it into the stills for double distillation; then lastly alter the ABV to their collective liking. Kyle introduced alongside photograph albums of the extremely rewarding expertise, and of the brand new associates he had made. He struggled with language a bit, not realizing that the principle language which might be spoken by the household and others working on the Palenque was Zapoteco. Hopefully he picked up at minimal a couple of swear phrases.
So what’s subsequent for our Toronto tastings? My Toronto stash has been exhausted, so now I need to mule extra mezcal into Ontario over the following yr or so. Felix didn’t know prematurely in regards to the occasion. He now says he would have given me a bunch extra for the competitors. My pondering is to subsequent do a blind tasting of clay distillates, from totally different areas, adopted by an identical even of mezcals distilled utilizing a refrescadera. Of maybe a single varietal from 15 totally different villages using totally different instruments of the commerce and technique of manufacturing. The choices are innumerable and the occasions will undoubtedly be instructional, and simply as importantly enjoyable for attendees.
Alvin Starkman operates Mezcal Academic Excursions of Oaxaca (mezcaleducationaltours.com). Anybody excited by an expertise much like Kyle’s ought to contact Alvin.
