Heritage Mezcal

Spirits are quite a weird thing. They are everywhere; you engage with them constantly at bars, concerts and restaurants and yet, it is rather difficult to share your thoughts and ideas about them. People get shy and weird when you try to dissect the origin, flavors or implications of a spirit.

- Why can’t you just shut up and have fun! - 

I’ve been shouted at many, many times. 

That is why I find tremendous joy in the little but great community of mezcal and sotol enthusiasts that I’ve encountered in Mexico City. It is a tiny one, but with these gentle souls I get to talk about cities that most people have never visited and I get to refresh my memory and re-spark my curiosity about things that I missed when I visited this or that producer. 

In this conversation with Megs Miller, mastermind behind Salon de Agave in Mexico City, we try to go through all our memories connected to Chihuahua and beautiful spirits we found there. 

I hope you enjoy this one!

In this episode on Heritage Mezcal, I had the opportunity to have a delightful conversation with Eric Zandona. He is an incredibly booze-informed gentleman, and the organizer of the ADI’S International Spirits Competition, which, if you were to ask me, offers a great chance for brands of all sizes to break into the US market. Especially if you have something that may shock the nerds. They are not sponsoring this episode, but after being invited a few times as a judge, I can say that I’ve never met a group of people that cared about and loved spirits with such passion. 

That being said, this episode covers a lot of ground, but was originally inspired by a petition published in Change Org by Pepe Tequilas titled: “Highlighting the Importance of Protecting Agave’s Biocultural Heritage”. 

I prefer not to throw any major spoilers in this introduction, but let's just say that both Eric and I would love for agave spirits' beauty to prevail for at least another thousand years. 

Agaves and humans have always had an intimate relationship  but, believe it or not,  a significant part of if has nothing to do with booze. As we've discussed before in this podcast agaves provided to our ancestors with many charms; from clothing to nourishment. But given the fact that many of these relationships have disappeared, this wider understanding of agave is quite hard to imagine. That is why Marcela Sandoval has been researching how and why and with which consequences did humans domesticated agave. While most of us keep on speculating how agave fields looked a few decades ago,  she gets to inspect traces that go back thousands of years.  Please welcome Marcela and the incredible agave-stories that  she has to share. 

Pox, the quintessential Chiapas spirit, is probably the most mysterious Mexican drink that I've encountered in my life. It was a big part of my early 20's, but I never truly understood its technicalities or cultural relevance. Happily, thanks to Javier Oroz, who I just interviewed a few weeks ago (go check the Bacanora episode), I got to meet Zury Guindi.

Zury started bottling bottling Pox back in 2011 under the umbrella of "Siglo Cero". When even mezcal was just starting to happen, he decided to dedicate his life to corn, panela and wheat instead of worshipping agave. In this episode we try to cover as much as we can about this fascinating and delicious drink. Hope you enjoy it!

This episode was recorded at Som, Zury's bar in Mexico City. Nested in the heart of Condesa I can't emphasize enough how fun is to go through all their menu. You'll get to try Pox, rum, raicilla, mezcal, tequila and many other bizarre and lovely Mexican spirits. 

This is the beginning of a series where both Roy and Chava go around the many venues that hold agave collections that they think are pretty and tasty. Some may be the usual suspects but others may be hiding in plain view, just like Tahona Mezcal Room. Join Chava and Julie Mann Wharton in a conversation that includes tips on how to party when in Brazil, the different types of cachacas you should look for and how this tasting room came to be. Saludcita!

Vinasse, which are maybe the most offensive byproducts when making mezcal or tequila, can be neutralized in a number of ways. Scientists are always trying to offer more efficient and cost effective options to neutralize this nasty stuff, and one of  those experiments was brought to our attention by our brilliant medical correspondent, Ryan Aycock (aka Cocktail MD).  

The technical specifics of how Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles can neutralize vinasse is not really the main focus of this episode, but we decided to delve into what would happen if this approach were to be adopted by the industry at large. What would all that Titanium Dioxide could possibly mean to the health of those applying it to the vinasse or those in the vicinity of the distilleries?  It all may sound very sci-fi and complicated, but this conversation tries to show that every decision has repercussions that may not be incredibly evident right away and that fighting one type of pollution may create other challenges.  

Finally, this is the full citation of the article mentioned in the episode:

Alicia Rodriguez Arreola, Marciano Sanchez Tizapa, Florentina Zurita, Juan Pablo Morán-Lázaro, Rocío Castañeda Valderrama, José Luis Rodríguez-López & Alejandra Carreon-Alvarez (2018) Treatment of tequila vinasse and elimination of phenol by coagulation–flocculation process coupled with heterogeneous photocatalysis using titanium dioxide nanoparticles, Environmental Technology. 

As most things that have been created in Northern Mexico, Bacanora tends to create more questions than answers. It may have an active Denomination of Origin and there are some really awesome brands out there bringing delicious juice, but many of the stories linked to its origins are still obscure. 

In this conversation with Javier Oroz (mastermind behind @bastardosdelbacanora and @santocuviso) we tried to briefly explore Bacanora's convoluted history. We hope you enjoy it!

How big is it too big? When does a mezcalero stops being "small batch" and migrates to something that could be labeled as not truly artisanal?

In this conversation with jóven Jon Darby (patrón at @sin_gusano) we dabble around some some of these questions, while sipping some rarities, that according my invitee prove that he may not be the worst purist in this industry.

I hope you enjoy this one. 

A popurrí is the ultimate mix, an intense collage of songs merged together to accelerate enjoyment.  

I am sure that the term has been confined to music because if someone were to create the "taco popurrí" it would be too much for humanity to withstand.  

But jokes aside, this episode is exactly that, a "Popurrí" . 

Fabio Raya, one of my favorite scientists on earth,  was in town and we decided to talk all things  agave in one shot while we were sipping gorgeous pulque.  

I hope you enjoy this one. 

So many of the most valuable Mexican products  are tremendously fragile. 

A perfectly ripe zapote, a prime "lechón", a fresh habanero salsa and my always beloved pulque. 

In this episode with Cesar Ojeda, aka @intergalacticyeastieboy,  we talk about some of his most recent experiments  regarding pulque fermentation, we touch a bit on social justice and we do laugh quite a bit. 

Welcome to Heritage Mezcal, I hope you enjoy this one.