Mexico Spirits

Question 1

What styles are made in Tequila DO?

Answer 1

Blanco/Silver Tequila

Oro/Gold Tequila: Spirit enhanced by “mellowing” with caramel coloring or oak extracts.

Reposado (Aged) Tequila: Aged for a minimum of 2 months in oak or encino oak containers.

Añejo (Extra-aged) Tequila: Aged for a minimum of 1 year in oak or encino oak barrels. Maximum barrel size is 600 liters.

Extra Añejo (Ultra-aged) Tequila: Aged for a minimum of 3 years in oak or encino oak barrels. Maximum barrel size is 600 liters.

100% Agave: Tequila that does not include sugars from any source other than blue agave.

Question 2

What styles are mde in Sotol DO?

Answer 2

Blanco:

Joven/Oro: The result of either Sotol Blanco blended with Sotol Reposado or a Sotol aged in wood for 1-2 months.

Reposado: Aged for a minimum 2 months in oak, chesntut, acacia, beech, or ash wood casks with a maximum 210-liter capacity.**

Añejo: Aged for a minimum 1 year in wood casks with a maximum 210-liter capacity.**

Question 3

What styles are made in Bacanora DO?

Answer 3

Blanco

Joven/Oro: A blend of Bacanora Blanco with Bacanora Reposado or Añejo.

Reposado: Bacanora aged for at least 2 months in containers of oak or encina wood.

Añejo: Bacanora aged for at least 1 year in oak containers of a maximum 200-liter capacity.

100% Agave: Bacanora produced solely from the distillation of A. angustofolia.

Question 4

What styles are made in Mezcal DO?

Answer 4

Categories:

Mezcal

Mezcal Artesanal

Mezcal Ancestral

Label Designations:

Añejo

Reposado

Joven

100% Agave

Question 5

What are the requirments for “Mezcal”?

Answer 5

Cooking: piña or maguey juices in pit ovens, cement or stainless steel tanks

Milling: stone wheel, mechanical shredder or large mill

Fermentation: wood cask, cement or staining steel tanks

Distillation: alambic still, continuous still, copper still or stainless steel tanks

Question 6

What are the DOs for spirits production in Mexico?

Answer 6

Bacanora DO

Mezcal DO

Sotol DO

Tequila DO

Question 7

What does “Mezcal Artesenal” mean?

Answer 7

Cooking: Pit ovens or cement

Milling: wooden floor, bats, stone wheel or mechanical shredder

Fermentation: stone vessel, cement, wood, clay, earthenware or animal skins; can include maguey fiber (bagazo)

Distillation: direct fire on alembic, copper, small or large clay vessel; wood; copper or stainless tank; can include maguey fiber (bagazo)

Question 8

What does “Mezcal Ancestral mean?

Answer 8

Cooking: Pit ovens

Milling: wooden bats or stone wheel

Fermentation: stone vessel, cement, wood, clay, earthenware or animal skins; must include maguey fiber (bagazo)

Distillation: direct fire on small or large clay vessel; wood; must include maguey fiber (bagazo)

Question 9

What are the original States of production for Mezcal DO?

Answer 9

Oaxaca

Guerrero

Durango

San Luis Potosí

Zacatecas

Question 10

What state is Bacanora DO made in?

Answer 10

Sonora

Question 11

What is Bacanora DO made from?

Answer 11

Yaquiana

Agave angustofolia

Question 12

What is Sotol DO made from?

Answer 12

“Desert Spoon” - A succulent, rather than an agave plant

Dasylirion wheeleri

Question 13

What states have been added for the production of Mezcal DO?

Answer 13

Tamaulipas

Michoácan

Guanajuato

Puebla (pending)

Question 14

What are some common varieties of Agave used in the production of Mezcal DO?

Answer 14

Espadin

Arroqueño

Tobolá

Tepextate

Question 15

What are the states of production for Tequila DO?

Answer 15

Jalisco

Nayarit

Guanajuato

Michoacan

Tamaulipas

Question 16

Horno:

Answer 16

Ovens that are used to cook the agave plant

Question 17

Perlas:

Answer 17

When checking the degrees, or alcohol percentage, of a newly distilled batch of mezcal, the maestro may use a long piece of bamboo called a carizo to suck up the mezcal and then release it back into a larger jicara producing las perlas, or pearls (bubbles). The size of these pearls indicates the proof.

Question 18

Jícara:

Answer 18

jicaras are used by meaestros mezcaleros (master distillers), palenque employees, and their guests. The jicara is a container derived from the bark of the fruit with the same name. The use of jicaras dates back thousands of years and has had many uses including the production and serving of chocolate, transport and display of goods, and consumption of different beverages.

Question 19

Quiote:

Answer 19

A quiote is the stalk that shoots up from an agave plant when it’s ready to reproduce. They can be dried and used as fuel, construction materials, food or even as a decorative item. They’re one of the most dramatic elements of the agave life cycle.

Question 20

Bagazo:

Answer 20

Must be used in the fermentation of Mezcal Artesenal and Mezcal Ancestral. May be included in the fire used to make Mezcal Artesenal and Mezcal Ancestral

Bagasso is the cooked and pulped agave fibers that remain after making mezcal. The term has a round about origin, it probably started in Spanish as bagazo which migrated to the French bagasse and then came back into Spanish as bagasso relatively recently. At least that’s the best we’ve been able to do to pin point the terms’ linguistic meandering.

Question 21

Ensemble:

Answer 21

As applied to the mezcal world, a variety of agaves are harvested, roasted, mashed, fermented, distilled, and bottled together.

In wine terminology this is a field blend and probably what mezcal used to be, a distillation of what was ripe in the fields at the moment of harvest. Ensembles are really tricky operations because you’re dealing with all sorts of variables, agaves of different sizes roast at different rates, some will ferment differently because they’re more or less woody, etc.

Question 22

Tahona:

Answer 22

Tahona is another one of those words that does double duty in the Spanish vocabulary. It used to mean mill or mill house but in Mexico it also means the large stone wheel that is used to crush the roasted hearts of agave known as piñas into a fermentable mash.

Question 23

Silvestre:

Answer 23

In the mezcal world it means wild agave which is differentiated from the cultivated varieties. The mezcal made from silvestres generally taste extremely different from their cultivated cousins because of the combination of their genetic diversity and all the environmental conditions that they live through. These agaves aren’t irrigated and generally live in truly wild circumstances meaning that they’re about as far away as you can imagine from the clean row crops that spring to mind when imagining agriculture. True silvestres grow where ever anything else doesn’t, on hillsides, in forests, along roadsides. They can also be really difficult to harvest and transport to a distillery, cue the pictures of a guy with a burro stacked with piñas, and that isn’t far from the truth.

Question 24

Pechuga:

Answer 24

Pechuga literally means “breast” in Spanish. A pechuga mezcal is one that has been triple distilled and, in the third distillation, a turkey or chicken breast is suspended above the mezcal within the still. The alcohol dissolves the meat of the breast which tends to add a very unctuous texture to the mezcal and a variety of taste sensations.

Question 25

What are the original States of production for Mezcal DO?

Answer 25

Guerrero San Luis Potosí!

Oaxaca Durango Zacatecas!!!