Days of Metl - Mezcal

8/1/17 -

Mezcal is often spoken about in spiritual, sometimes even religious terms. Many marketing materials of available brands hark back to Aztec mythology, speaking of this clear, fiery liquid as the spirit of the gods. While I don't completely feel myself drawn in by these attempts at such glorification, I do find myself completely in love with the spirit itself. There is a radiant energy coursing through it that I rarely find in any other distillates, and a sense of origin that establishes mezcal as one of the more interesting and uncharted categories in the spirits world. Forsaking the mystique that is commonly associated with the category, what undoubtedly remains is the thought that, through time-honored traditions reaching back hundreds of years, often in pre-industrial production facilities, a spirit of terroir is being created and constantly explored.

Mezcal (a combination of the Nahuatl words metl+ixcalli, meaning “oven-cooked agave”) is most commonly distilled from the espadin agave, which is the easiest to cultivate and the quickest to mature to an acceptable sugar content for harvesting. The taste of espadin - smoke from the roasting process, a burst of tropical fruit, a faint whiff of hot rocks after a summer rainstorm - has become synonymous with what is generally accepted as the flavor profile of mezcal, but that would be a simplification. The beauty truly lies in diversity, in the myriad species of agave and other plants of the desert and mountain that, when distilled, echo in a harmony of flavors, shapes, textures, and impressions. The wild agave that make up the landscape of not only Oaxaca, but much of Mexico, clinging to the steep mountainsides or baking under the hot sun, sometimes taking many decades to mature, offer up a sensory experience that is truly unique and distinct.

As Bruce Springsteen can tell you in his autobiography, “Born to Run,” tequila is a type of mezcal. And that’s an important concept to grasp. The discussion about mezcal is slowly veering away from branding and marketing towards a conversation driven by terroir. The natural bounty of flora (from Chihuahua in the north to Oaxaca in the south and everywhere in between) is being distilled and categorized by the formula of: this species, this place, this flavor. If you haven’t taken the plunge already, we encourage you to check out what’s got the Chambers Street Spirits Department swooning.

- Oskar Kostecki