I know there's a spirits thread, but I felt like this warranted its own thread seeing as how I made a pretty significant discovery. I think mezcal could easily be "official RVF spirit".
That's right, no hangovers. I know that sounds outlandish.
I'd heard from visitors down to Oaxaca that they would get tanked on mezcal and not get a hangover the next day. I thought it was utter bullshit, because it challenged what I thought I knew about hangovers. Which is, the brain develops a short term addiction to alcohol and the next day you get a headache from withdrawal symptoms.
Well I can say from first hand experience that it's not bullshit. I just took a trip to Oaxaca and did a mezcal tour. Keep in mind, there are different grades of mezcal. There is definitely mass produced shit and I cannot vouch for the effects you feel the next day. What I'm talking about here is artisanal mezcal.
As I understand it, tequila is an evolution of mezcal, which has been in production for hundreds if not thousands of years. The best mezcal is still produced in a very rustic manner. Agave is farmed or collected from the wild (called silvestre), trimmed of its leaves down to its core (called the "pina", or pineapple), and the pinas are buried in the ground and roasted. Depending on how they're roasted, they can take on a very smoky character. Some producers claim that too much smokiness ruins the mezcals flavor. I do prefer a less smoky mezcal.
After the roast, the agave is ground to a mush using a stone wheel being pulled by a donkey, or it's smashed by hand. I went to a palenque (mezcal ranch) that did it by hand and did it for a bit myself. It's backbreaking work. Again, this is how it's done at the old school distilleries, not the mass produced garbage where everything is mechanized. When the agave comes out of the ground after being roasted, it can be eaten as is. It's very sweet and has the flavor of a very sweet, smoky roasted sweet potato, it's pretty fucking delicious. At this point the roasted and mashed agave goes into barrels and is naturally fermented for a few days, no added yeast, no added anything, and then water is poured over the top and it continues to ferment. The amount of time of fermentation varies by producer.
After that it's distilled in either copper, or more traditionally, clay stills. The clay stills break every few years but the purists insist on doing it this way. Depending on the distillation, a 2nd or 3rd distillation may be done to increase the alcohol content, which often gets up to 50%
Mezcal made in this way can take on many different flavors, because there are over 100 varieties of agave. Some of them are wild and endangered, but they're so highly sought after that they'll probably go extinct soon. I have a couple mezcals like that right now. It's common to drink mezcals that have notes of green chili pepper, grass, tropical fruit, smokiness, and as crazy as this sounds, cocaine. You know when you do a line and you get that nasal drip, and how it tastes? Some mezcal tastes like that (and one mezcal I've had was infused with fresh coca leaves. Party time!)
Good mezcal in Mexico will cost between $20-$50 per bottle, so it's not cheap by locals standards. The cheaper shit can be had for a few bucks per bottle. If you're driving through the Oaxacan countryside, on those fucked up windy roads, you can buy bottles from local producers up there for a few dollars. Again, the good stuff is made through very traditional, very labor-intensive techniques. These same mezcals will cost $40-$120 if bought in the U.S. because of export fees and taxes.
There are simply too many mezcals on the market for me to get into each one, and I've only had about 15 different brands. Each brand will produce 6-8 bottles using different agaves from different regions, each being very distinct and different.
Good mezcal is like any other high quality spirit. It should not be used for mixing or cocktails, but unfortunately I get the feeling that's how most people drink it in the U.S. Mezcal should always be sipped, never drank as a shot. In Oaxaca it's usually served with slices of orange that you dip in any combination of salt, chili powder, or sal de gusano (a mixture of ground salt with ground up toasted worms that grow on the agave)
Note: any mezcal with a worm in the bottle or infused with anything is 99% likely to be crap quality. Just for the record, eating the worm does absolutely nothing to you.
When drinking mezcal, the first drink gets your palate primed up. It will taste hot, and you won't pick up the nuances. Each drink poured gets better, which is counterintuitive. Normally you'd think the initial drinks would numb the tongue and palate. By the 3rd or 4th mezcal, its true flavor notes come out and you can appreciate the quality of the mezcal.
Getting drunk on mezcal is a different drunk than other spirits. Several people I talked to in Oaxaca call it "getting high". When I got drunk on mezcal I didn't feel uncoordinated, and sure enough, the colors of the city seemed just a bit more vibrant. It's very peaceful. I would call it a very, very mild mushroom trip. Certainly no hallucinations or anything of that nature, but a feeling of peace and appreciation. It's a great buzz I have to say.
And the best part: No matter how drunk I ever got on mezcal (and I got pretty goddamn drunk), the next day I felt absolutely 100%, not a single trace of a hangover. I don't know the science behind it, it doesn't make any sense to me, but I can tell you from firsthand experience it's absolutely not bullshit.
For mezcals available in the U.S., I highly recommend the Del Maguey brand. I went to some of their production sites in Oaxaca and it really is some of the finest Mezcal available in Oaxaca, and certainly the U.S. You can order online here:
http://www.drinkupny.com/mezcal-online-s/185.htm
Note that the mezcals I'm referring to in this post are single village mezcals, meaning the mezcal is made from a single variety of agave and made from one ranch. No mixing of any kind going on. These single village mezcals start at $63. Pick one up for a special occasion. You'll be glad you did.
Those fuckers should send me a few free bottles for my endorsement.
Enjoy!
That's right, no hangovers. I know that sounds outlandish.
I'd heard from visitors down to Oaxaca that they would get tanked on mezcal and not get a hangover the next day. I thought it was utter bullshit, because it challenged what I thought I knew about hangovers. Which is, the brain develops a short term addiction to alcohol and the next day you get a headache from withdrawal symptoms.
Well I can say from first hand experience that it's not bullshit. I just took a trip to Oaxaca and did a mezcal tour. Keep in mind, there are different grades of mezcal. There is definitely mass produced shit and I cannot vouch for the effects you feel the next day. What I'm talking about here is artisanal mezcal.
As I understand it, tequila is an evolution of mezcal, which has been in production for hundreds if not thousands of years. The best mezcal is still produced in a very rustic manner. Agave is farmed or collected from the wild (called silvestre), trimmed of its leaves down to its core (called the "pina", or pineapple), and the pinas are buried in the ground and roasted. Depending on how they're roasted, they can take on a very smoky character. Some producers claim that too much smokiness ruins the mezcals flavor. I do prefer a less smoky mezcal.
After the roast, the agave is ground to a mush using a stone wheel being pulled by a donkey, or it's smashed by hand. I went to a palenque (mezcal ranch) that did it by hand and did it for a bit myself. It's backbreaking work. Again, this is how it's done at the old school distilleries, not the mass produced garbage where everything is mechanized. When the agave comes out of the ground after being roasted, it can be eaten as is. It's very sweet and has the flavor of a very sweet, smoky roasted sweet potato, it's pretty fucking delicious. At this point the roasted and mashed agave goes into barrels and is naturally fermented for a few days, no added yeast, no added anything, and then water is poured over the top and it continues to ferment. The amount of time of fermentation varies by producer.
After that it's distilled in either copper, or more traditionally, clay stills. The clay stills break every few years but the purists insist on doing it this way. Depending on the distillation, a 2nd or 3rd distillation may be done to increase the alcohol content, which often gets up to 50%
Mezcal made in this way can take on many different flavors, because there are over 100 varieties of agave. Some of them are wild and endangered, but they're so highly sought after that they'll probably go extinct soon. I have a couple mezcals like that right now. It's common to drink mezcals that have notes of green chili pepper, grass, tropical fruit, smokiness, and as crazy as this sounds, cocaine. You know when you do a line and you get that nasal drip, and how it tastes? Some mezcal tastes like that (and one mezcal I've had was infused with fresh coca leaves. Party time!)
Good mezcal in Mexico will cost between $20-$50 per bottle, so it's not cheap by locals standards. The cheaper shit can be had for a few bucks per bottle. If you're driving through the Oaxacan countryside, on those fucked up windy roads, you can buy bottles from local producers up there for a few dollars. Again, the good stuff is made through very traditional, very labor-intensive techniques. These same mezcals will cost $40-$120 if bought in the U.S. because of export fees and taxes.
There are simply too many mezcals on the market for me to get into each one, and I've only had about 15 different brands. Each brand will produce 6-8 bottles using different agaves from different regions, each being very distinct and different.
Good mezcal is like any other high quality spirit. It should not be used for mixing or cocktails, but unfortunately I get the feeling that's how most people drink it in the U.S. Mezcal should always be sipped, never drank as a shot. In Oaxaca it's usually served with slices of orange that you dip in any combination of salt, chili powder, or sal de gusano (a mixture of ground salt with ground up toasted worms that grow on the agave)
Note: any mezcal with a worm in the bottle or infused with anything is 99% likely to be crap quality. Just for the record, eating the worm does absolutely nothing to you.
When drinking mezcal, the first drink gets your palate primed up. It will taste hot, and you won't pick up the nuances. Each drink poured gets better, which is counterintuitive. Normally you'd think the initial drinks would numb the tongue and palate. By the 3rd or 4th mezcal, its true flavor notes come out and you can appreciate the quality of the mezcal.
Getting drunk on mezcal is a different drunk than other spirits. Several people I talked to in Oaxaca call it "getting high". When I got drunk on mezcal I didn't feel uncoordinated, and sure enough, the colors of the city seemed just a bit more vibrant. It's very peaceful. I would call it a very, very mild mushroom trip. Certainly no hallucinations or anything of that nature, but a feeling of peace and appreciation. It's a great buzz I have to say.
And the best part: No matter how drunk I ever got on mezcal (and I got pretty goddamn drunk), the next day I felt absolutely 100%, not a single trace of a hangover. I don't know the science behind it, it doesn't make any sense to me, but I can tell you from firsthand experience it's absolutely not bullshit.
For mezcals available in the U.S., I highly recommend the Del Maguey brand. I went to some of their production sites in Oaxaca and it really is some of the finest Mezcal available in Oaxaca, and certainly the U.S. You can order online here:
http://www.drinkupny.com/mezcal-online-s/185.htm
Note that the mezcals I'm referring to in this post are single village mezcals, meaning the mezcal is made from a single variety of agave and made from one ranch. No mixing of any kind going on. These single village mezcals start at $63. Pick one up for a special occasion. You'll be glad you did.
Those fuckers should send me a few free bottles for my endorsement.
Enjoy!
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