Mezcal of Oaxaca
Oaxaca City was built by the Spanish
colonists starting in the 1520s and
therefore has many European style
buildings, many built in the 1600s.
Earthquakes have  caused rebuildings
over the years but the preserved
colonial center of the city maintains a
European feel and still has many
classic colonial buildings and churches.
The Spanish colonist brought the craft
of distilling to Oaxaca. The indigenous
had used the Maguey to make a
fermented drink called pulque
Oaxaca stands unique among world cities because of its thriving indigenous population, 11 or so
languages still spoken within the mountainous state and the many ancient rituals still practiced.  
This combining of the colonial Spanish, modern European, and indigenous culture gives Oaxaca
a flair for art and spectacle unique in the world. In the mountains around the city,  Mezcal is still
made in the rustic and traditional way.
Oaxaca City is surrounded by mountains that rise to nearly ten thousand feet.  The settlement was
established in a valley at 5000 feet and the surrounding mountains have isolated the villages somewhat
and perpetuated the speaking of the ancient languages and the practice of the old customs.

Oaxaca Bus Service now connects the city with nearly every village and provides a way for the people of
the mountains to visit the city and for visitors to Oaxaca to travel to the remote places.
Visiting a Oaxacan Mezcal Mill:
For independent travelers: To visit a rustic Mezcal mill, the buses go to San Lorenzo al Baradas and
Matatlan from the second class bus station. Private vehicle: south from Oaxaca City on Route 190 for 30
miles.
Otherwise, tour agencies include a visit in their trips to Herve el Agua.
Dining in Oaxaca: Oaxaca Restaurants Review
While driving in the mountains of Oaxaca my guide and I came upon a straw hut with large wooden
vats, a curious round stone with a central axial pole, and an adjacent pit of smoke-blackened
rocks.  We had found a Mezcal mill.

The operators of this rustic site with all the appearance of a moonshine operation were delighted
to show us around and to let us join the group of locals lined up as the unofficial quality control
committee ready to sample some freshly distilled Mezcal as it trickled from the cooling spigot.

They later invited us to dine with them on Gusanos, the Agave worm usually found in the bottle but
also salted and roasted on a comal with Chilies.   Anyone sprinkling the salt on their hand and
daubing it with a lime while drinking Mezcal or Tequila has already tasted the Gusano and if you
can wolf down oysters at a Boston raw bar, you don't go getting finicky about a little roasted worm?

One of the favorite types of Mezcal in the region, Pechuga, has an interesting twist. Some distillers
put a chicken breast in the distilling kettle when making this Mezcal called Pechuga de Pollo, so
they tell you.   

I spent a few days with a family in the village of San Lorenzo al Baradas while they went through
the entire process of making pure Mezcal, nothing added.  I also visited several times at the
village of Matatlan and made photos of the harvest, the baking, the grinding, the fermenting, and
the distilling. And of course, joining  the local tasting committee.
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In a rustic Mezcal mill in the hills of Oaxaca, Mexico, a horse
pulls a round stone to crush the baked Agave pino.
Oaxaca farmers gather the agave
for the making of Mezcal
Mezcal in Oaxaca is
made from the agave
plant, locally called
the Maguey. The plant
is ready to harvest
after eight years.
Mezcal will be made
from the heart of the
maguey plant, shown  
here with the spiked
leaves removed.
Oaxaca is mountainous country
where the agave grows wild. When
harvested in the wild, the plant will
take 12 years to reach harvest size.
Mezcal in Oaxaca, Made in Rustic Mills
Making Mezcal in Oaxaca follows tradition
Mezcal of Oaxaca is unique because
the pinos are baked in an earthen oven
heated with encino oak, giving it a
subtle wood smoke flavor.
Once the farmers have removed the
spines from the pino they will bake
them in the earthen oven for five days.
The baking converts the starch in the
plant to sugar.
Oaxacan dining will Traditionally start with a small glass of Mezcal
Oaxaca Mezcal: Eight years growing in the fields, five days baking in an earthen oven, 12
days fermenting in a vat, several days in the distilling chamber and then into a wooden keg or a
bottle for additional aging and perhaps the addition of coconut, coffee, chocolate, or the heart of
the maguey. These one liter bottles of pure Mezcal sell in Matatlan for 50 pesos or $5. USD.
Oaxacan Mezcal:  Once the maguey pinos come from the baking oven they are crushed by a
round stone drawn by a horse.  The crushed pinos then go into a fermenting vat for 8 to 15 days.
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