The Harvest
Each agave reaches maturity in its own time, and it is up to our mezcalero to recognize the signs that it is ready to be harvested. The pencas (leaves) are trimmed off with a machete, and the piñas are pulled from the ground, after which they are taken from the remote fields back to the palenque.
LISO
The liso agave is a wild relative of espadín, the most common agave used in the production of mezcal. Liso, which translates to "smooth," is called this because its pencas (leaves) are missing the spines normally seen along their edges. It is a variety rarely used to make mezcal. The plants require colder temperatures and therefore can only be found at higher elevations, far up into the mountains. They take 14 to 16 years to reach maturity, and when they are harvested, their piñas can weigh up to 95 kilograms!
Roasting
To release the valuable sugars needed for fermentation, the piñas must be cooked slowly. The roasting step is performed in a traditional oven in the ground and can last for several weeks. After roasting, the sweet, cooked agave has developed complex flavors and picked up smokey notes from the oven itself.
Crushing
The cooked agave piñas must be crushed in order to make the sugars and flavors availabe for fermentation. This is accomplished laboriously with a stone wheel called a molino, which is powered by a horse or donkey. The pieces of agave must constantly be pushed into the path of the wheel until crushing is complete.
Fermentation
The crushed agave is transferred to wooden fermentation vessels and water is added. Wild yeasts and bacteria from the air colonize the sweet liquid and perform a wild fermentation over many days, converting the agave sugars into alcohol.
Distillation
When fermentation is complete, the liquid, along with the agave fibers, are moved into an alembic copper still. The liquid is heated and the vapor collected. This distillation is performed twice, and with each pass, the alcohol is increased. The heart of the second distillation is our mezcal.
