Mezcal del Amigo

The family of Enrique Jiménez has been producing mezcal in Santiago Matatlán since the 19th century. He is the fourth of five generations of palenqueros. While a member of COMERCAM and indeed an exporter of mezcal to the US and France for upwards of 20 years (under different brand names), until 2008 Mezcal del Amigo was producing mezcal using traditional means, in the homestead of Enrique’s father Isaac, along with brother Octavio. Enrique then decided to build a new facility in town along the side of the highway, using more modern techniques for baking, fermenting and distilling. A chemical engineer by training, Enrique determined that changing his production processes would not alter the essential nature and elements of his mezcal.

Enrique cooks his agave in a sealed brick room, running steam through tubes beneath the piñas. Diesel is his fuel. He is able to control temperature, and therefore adds precision to the process in terms of being able to better calculate when the piñas are at their optimum stage of readiness. The agave is crushed using a beast of burden. Then the nutrients are removed from the fiber through a washing process, so that liquid, with only a small amount of fiber, is fermented. This process results in subsequent steps progressing more efficiently. Fermentation takes place in pine vats. The fermented liquid is then pumped into the still using PVC tubing and a motor, rather than being carried manually using pitchfork, wheelbarrow and bucket.

COMERCAM states that Enrique’s unique multi – chamber copper still provides the equivalent to double distillation, but Enrique distils again using a companion still, a bit different from traditional ones. His stills are also fuelled by diesel. He has a sophisticated water filtration system. Water quality is an extremely important component of mezcal production, so one cannot be critical of the filtration used by Mezcal del Amigo and the other fábricas noted below.

Enrique loses smokiness and traditional flavor by steaming rather than baking over firewood, although his blanco is clean and smooth. His reposado and añejo are surprisingly similar in terms of the flavor nuances imparted using old – style production.

Enrique runs a family business, with his wife and two daughters assisting when necessary, such as for bottling, labelling and packing. He also uses residents of Matatlán in the various stages of production. His operation is more efficient than previously, with less labor, thus adversely impacting employment of local workers. But he receives highest grades in a couple of categories, and on a scale of 10 never dips below 7.

The use of diesel is questionable, but does improve efficiency and consistency of taste. In fact, there are now traditional palenques in the more distant villages which are distilling using propane, producing their mezcal for export as members of COMERCAM. They are affiliated with established commercial exporters of artisanal mezcal such as Mezcal del Maguey and Alipus noted below.

The overall quality of Enrique’s mezcal ranks above that found in most traditional palenques. Even in the days when he was producing using the methods employed by his father and previous generations, his quality was well above average. Enrique has recently built a traditional facility alongside his modern fábrica, which increases his overall ranking. His new, old – fashioned palenque is not simply for show (as is the case with some others), but rather enables Enrique to produce mezcal the way his father and grandfather did, maintaining the family tradition.

For export, the new Mezcal del Amigo facility is important in terms of being able to satisfy a non – Mexican palate by and large demanding consistency of product. Mezcal del Amigo overall ranks reasonably high in supporting the Slow Food mission, elevated by having extremely attractive pricing for a COMERCAM product. Labelled and sealed for taking out of the country, it’s a bargain at 150 – 300 pesos for a 750 ml bottle. Industrialization of process is countered by not only price and maintaining the integrity of product, but by the fact that Mezcal del Amigo remains a family owned and operated business.

Mezcal del Maguey
Ron Cooper’s Mezcal del Maguey ranks close to Mezcal del Amigo, his lofty pricing and accordingly lack of accessibility to consumers knocking him down a notch; this notwithstanding that he has recently introduced a blanco for 180 pesos. Otherwise, his prices range from 450 to 1300 pesos, the latter for his pechuga.

Ron and Mezcal del Maguey have been the best ambassadors for mezcal in the US, for over a decade. However, his prices in the American marketplace, significantly higher than his domestic prices, suggest that his products are available to nothing less than an upper middle class American sipping public. Most of his products, available both in Mexico and internationally, are sold with smart wicker packaging, a wonderful marketing tool, but nevertheless contributing to elevated prices (notwithstanding that he’s helping the manufacture of the wicker holders). Coining the phrase Single Village Mezcal was a brilliant play on single malt scotch. Ron does not produce a barrel-aged product, relying on differentiation of his mezcals based on micro-climate growing regions, variety of agave used, and recipes employed by his producers yet tweaked by Ron personally.

Mezcal del Maguey is not a producer of mezcal, but Ron appears to know the business as well as any Oaxacan. In 1995 he began working with traditional village palenqueros, to produce his mezcal. He now works with six small scale palenqueros, four of which have been with him from the outset. He ensures that only traditional methods are used, which elevates his ranking in terms of clean production and sustainability. He points to the positive impact he and his partner Pancho Martínez have had on many lives and villages, such as contributing to the arrival of potable water, more substantial home construction, and making it possible for youths to pursue higher education which otherwise would not have been attainable.

It costs dearly to employ approximately 10 people aside from the actual producers in the villages, maintain organic certification (his current label is grandfathered into one of the two programs), and market a high quality product internationally. But Mezcal del Maguey comes about as close as a non – producer of mezcal can get to furthering the Slow Food mission – if only more people had an opportunity to buy his premium products. Ron says that for years he had wanted to provide an affordable and mixable mezcal, and hence his 180 peso entry level VIDA. VIDA is an average mezcal, now representing 45% of the total volume that Mezcal del Maguey sells annually. By promoting VIDA while marketing outside of North America, Ron may be detracting from his status as mezcal’s best ambassador to the world.

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