This article is a guest contribution from Industry Expert Alejandro Aispuro. Alejandro is an award winning spirit maker with over 10 years of experience in natural fermentations, recipe development, blending, and sensory analysis of mezcal, whisky and other distilled spirits. He has been recognised as a whisky-maker and master blender, but his story began with mezcal and agave spirits, in which he continues to be involved and contribute.
Mezcal is an art form, intricately weaving tradition and nature. This complex spirit is characterized by a blend of flavours and aromas that tell a story of the culture and landscape from which it hails.
Each sip is a reflection of the time-honoured production process that is handed down through generations and shapes each bottle that lands on your shelf. Each bottle encapsulates the essence of the people, the land, and the detailed steps involved – from harvesting the agave to the final distillation. These steps impart distinct notes and nuances that make mezcal an exceptional and diverse spirit.
In this article, we’ll show you how to trace these "flavour footprints" from the bottle back to the fields.
Understanding the Mezcal Production Process
"Flavour Footprints" in mezcal begin with the natural compounds found in different agave varieties and the influence of terroir. From cooking the agave to fermenting with wild yeasts, and through careful distillation, each step transforms the agave compounds into distinct flavours and aromas. The producer’s style and traditions guide this transformative journey, leaving a unique signature in every bottle.
Understanding the mezcal production process is key to appreciating these flavour footprints. Each phase—whether it's roasting the piñas in an earthen pit or fermenting the mash with wild yeasts—imparts its own unique influence on the final product. Beyond human intervention, nature also plays a pivotal role through the soil, agave varieties, ecosystem, and more. The diversity and complexity found in mezcal lie in the choices each producer makes and the environmental conditions they work within, leaving a lasting imprint on the flavour and aroma of their spirits.
Figuring out these complexities and learning about the process might feel intimidating, but the rewards of understanding the different techniques and agave varietals go beyond mere knowledge of mezcal’s creation. It’s about exploring a world of agave spirits equipped with the knowledge of what influences their taste and production. Whether a mezcal leans sweeter or more herbal depends largely on the methods used by its maker.
Additionally, if you, as a consumer, become familiar with the production processes behind the flavours you enjoy—whether it’s the earthy sweetness of cooked agave or the fruity or cheesy notes from wild fermentation—you can make more informed choices when purchasing new mezcals and consistently find the ones that resonate with your palate.
Ultimately, mezcal represents a profound expression of tradition, terroir, and technique. By diving into the details of its production process and recognizing the distinct flavour footprints left by each stage, you’re not only enhancing your appreciation of this incredible spirit, but also becoming a more confident and discerning mezcal enthusiast.
The Impact of Humans and Nature on the Mezcal Production Process
Before we talk about the stages of the production process, consider that the creation of mezcal–and of many distilled spirits–has two main influences: Nature and Human. Each of these two driving forces leaves distinctive marks..
Natural elements play a defining role in the first stages; agave plants mature over years, absorbing minerals from the soil, while factors like temperature, altitude, and climate impact their chemical composition. Wild yeasts also play a part during fermentation, creating unique and unpredictable flavours. .
On the other hand, human decisions, grounded culture, family legacy, and scientific knowledge, dominate later stages. Choices about cooking methods, fermentation techniques, and distillation approaches all fall into the hands of the mezcalero.
"Choices about cooking, fermentation techniques, and distillation methods all fall into the hands of the mezcalero. These techniques can vary widely, with some producers drawing from traditional methods passed down through generations, while others apply knowledge from broader distilling practices."
Insert this quote when detailing the various stages of mezcal production to highlight how human decisions impact the final spirit. This quote is surprisingly similar to the text above, so perhaps we simply input it here and quote the producer with something along the lines of: “As Edgar… producer of… in… tells us in an interview for MGx:...”
These practices can vary widely – some producers adhere to traditional methods passed down through generations, while others apply modern distilling knowledge.. There is a tendency towards modernisation and although some producers, and some consumers, romanticise and adhere to ancient methods, there are many who actively seek to improve their knowledge and incorporate modern techniques or equipment.
An interesting way to achieve this is their inclusion and support of future generations, as Eduardo “Lalo” Angeles tells us in an interview: "I believe that producers, well, I always said, if you watch a video from 10-15 years ago, this has always been my comment. I think families that truly have a history of making this drink have to professionalize their children. You have to go to university; you have to make mezcal."
I’ve personally seen the positive impact that these future generations, educated in anything from marketing to chemistry, can bring to the palenques and brands of their families, and while it does strengthen the human impact on the process, it can also help in bringing some balance by better understanding the importance and workings of nature’s role. Either way, both nature and human efforts leave their imprint, and it's the combination of these influences that results in truly unique mezcales. Let's explore the steps involved in producing them.
Step 1: Harvesting Agave - The Crucial First Step in Mezcal Production
The first stop in the process of the mezcal-making journey is the agave harvest. Agave plants, particularly Agave angustifolia, are the backbone of mezcal. These plants take anywhere from 7 to 20 years to mature, depending on the species, the climate, and even the soil they’re grown in.
Once ready, the farmers, or agaveros, head out to the fields with machetes and axes to cut away the agave’s spiny leaves and reveal the piña – the heart of the agave. The piña is full of the sugars essential for mezcal production, and hosts the essential elements that will be transformed into aromas and flavours.
Understanding Agave Maturity and Mezcal Flavours
So, what does the harvest have to do with flavour footprints? Well, the timing of the harvest is crucial. If you harvest too early, the piñas won’t have developed enough sugars, resulting in a less flavourful mezcal.
Conversely, waiting too long can cause these sugars to degrade, which disrupts the overall balance of flavours in the final product. When the agave is harvested at its peak, you get a mezcal with richer, more complex flavour profiles that carry notes of the earthy, herbaceous, and slightly fruity characteristics of the land it originated from.
Step 2: Cooking Agave - The Flavour Transformation
Once the piñas have been harvested, they’re taken to a palenque (mezcal distillery) for the essential cooking phase. Mezcal producers traditionally use an ancient technique where piñas are cooked in underground pits lined with volcanic rocks. This ancient, rustic method involves building a fire in the pit, layering in the piñas, and then covering them with earth and agave fibres. Over several days, the piñas roast within this natural oven, absorbing flavours from the burning wood, and transforming the sugars into sweeter, caramelised compounds.
The Role of Cooking in Flavour Development
It’s also during this stage that some mezcales acquire a smoky flavour. Depending on the type of wood used and the length of the cook, the intensity of smoky "flavour footprints" can range from subtle whispers to full-on campfire intensity. However, it's crucial to note that not all mezcals are smoky; this characteristic depends heavily on the specific production choices made at each palenque.
Additionally, the roasting process catalyzes the caramelization of sugars, which enrich the mezcal with complex flavours such as hints of barbecue, leather, or chocolate. This transformation is pivotal in deepening the agave's natural sweetness, layering the final product with an intricate flavour profile that reflects the artisanal nature of its production.
Step 3: Mashing - Unleashing the Essence of Agave
Once the piñas are thoroughly cooked, mashing is the critical next step in the mezcal production process. This stage involves crushing the roasted piñas to extract their sweet, sugary juices, pivotal for the fermentation phase. Producers may employ traditional methods using mallets or utilize a large stone wheel called a tahona, which is pulled by a horse or mule, to pulverize the piñas into a fibrous pulp. Alternatively, some modern facilities might opt for mechanical shredders to achieve a more uniform and rapid breakdown of the agave fibers.
The Impact of Mashing on Mezcal’s Flavour Profile
The mashing process is key to unlocking the full potential of the agave. As the fibers are crushed, they release the sweet juices that will eventually become mezcal. The amount of pressure applied during mashing can also influence the final flavour.
If the mashing is too aggressive, it can break down the fibres too much and release some bitter compounds, which might leave behind a harsh note in the finished mezcal. A more traditional mash can help retain the agave’s natural sweetness and clean, bright flavours, but if it is too gentle and the sugars are trapped within clumps of agave the yeast will have a harder time accessing and transforming those sugars into rich flavours.
The mashing method is one of the subtler "flavour footprints," but it's an important one nonetheless.
Step 4: Fermenting - The Wild Ride
Once the piñas are mashed, the resulting juice and fibres are transferred to large fermentation vats. Here’s where things get really interesting. Unlike other spirits that use cultivated, commercial yeasts for fermentation, mezcal producers often rely on wild yeast strains that float naturally in the air around the palenque. This gives mezcal a completely unique flavour footprint (fingerprint? Identifiable?) because the wild yeast varies depending on the location of the distillery, the season, and even the weather conditions during fermentation.
The yeast feeds on the sugars in the agave pulp, converting them into alcohol over the course of several days or even weeks. During this fermentation process, the flavour profile of the mezcal evolves, with fruity, floral, and earthy notes starting to develop. Some mezcales pick up tropical fruit flavours like pineapple or banana, while others may carry more citrusy or floral aromas, and if the fermentation goes on for too long, they can develop lactic of cheesy notes.
The natural environment surrounding the fermentation vats leaves its mark on the final product—another point where mezcal can express the terroir of the region in a big way. These wild yeast-driven "flavour footprints" are a strong reason behind mezcal’s signature complexity, with no two batches tasting exactly alike.
Step 5: Distilling - Defining Cuts
Finally, we’ve arrived at distillation, the step where all those complex flavours and aromas get concentrated and refined. Mezcal is typically distilled twice in copper or clay stills. Copper stills tend to produce a cleaner, crisper mezcal, while clay stills can add earthy, mineral notes. The choice of still can significantly impact the final "flavour footprints" of the mezcal.
During distillation, the spirit is separated into three parts: the head, the heart, and the tails. The head and tails are often discarded because they contain undesirable compounds. The heart contains all the flavours, aromas, and alcohol balance. The skill of the distiller in deciding when to make the cuts (i.e., when to keep the spirit flowing and when to stop) plays a crucial role in shaping the final flavour profile.
Some mezcales are distilled a third time to further refine the flavours, or to add new ones, but whether distilled twice or thrice, distillation is where mezcal's flavours get their final polish. The notes from the cooking, the sweetness from the agave, the wild yeasts from fermentation—all of these flavours merge together in the still, creating a spirit that’s rich, layered, and utterly unique.
Conclusion: The Sum of Flavour Footprints
From the fields where the agave grows to the stills where mezcal is distilled, every step in the production process leaves its mark on the final product. These “flavour footprints” are what make mezcal so special. Whether it’s the earthy sweetness from the agave, the smoky complexity from the underground cooking, or the fruity notes introduced during fermentation, each bottle of mezcal is a unique reflection of the land, the process, and the people who make it.
So the next time you take a sip of mezcal, think about the journey it took to get into your glass. You’re not just tasting a spirit; you’re tasting the soul of Mexico, one flavour footprint at a time.
