Yes, I am aware there is no wine produced in Baja Sur. However, did you know there is wine produced in Baja California (the north part) in the Valle de Guadalupe? This Blog is about Mexico’s best known spirit, Mezcal. The S in WSET stands for Spirits, so you do learn a bit about some of the world’s great spirits like whisky.
Background
First, I will explain what Mezcal is. Mezcal is the spirit made from the roasted agave piῆa. The pina is the large root that looks a bit like a pineapple. The pina needs to be roasted in order the develop the sugars so they can be fermented. The juice of the roasted agave is squeezed out of the pina, fermented and distilled.
Now for the tricky part. If you are a wine drinker you know that Champagne is a sparkling wine, but a sparkling wine is not a Champagne unless it is produced in the Champagne area and adheres to the rules of the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee, the governing body) like which grapes can be used. It’s the same for Tequila, the most famous type of Mezcal. In order for an agave spirit to be a tequila it must:
- Be produced in the state of Jalisco (which includes the town of Tequila) and some municipalities in four neighboring states (that have similar terroir to Jalisco).
- Be made from only the Blue Agave plant, and contain a minimum of 51% blue agave
Another thing that makes Tequila different from many Mezcals is the fact it is cooked in an oven, whereas many Mezcals are cooked in a pit which imparts a smoky taste from the smoldering wood.
More Tequila & Mezcal facts:
- Crappy Tequila (and Mezcal) can be made with only 51% agave and the rest corn or any other grain/product and is called Mixto. So when buying one of these spirits make sure it says “100% Agave” on the label. These spirits are world class because of the unique taste of the roasted agave, so you don’t want to dilute this.
- These spirits come in three main styles and one bonus:
- Blanco – or white, this is the pure product coming from the still
- Reposado – or rested, is aged in oak barrels for 2 to 12 months. This mellows out some of the harshness of the Blanco
- Anejo – or aged, is aged in oak barrels for one to three years
- Extra or Ultra Anejo – or extra aged (tequila only), is aged in oak barrels for three years
The barrel aging mellows out the alcohol bite and imparts flavours like caramel and baking spices.
Now to dig into Mezcal more. Although there are over 200 species of agave, only about 40 to 50 are used to make Mezcal. Mezcal has been a certified product since 2005 (very young). To put Mezcal on your bottle it must come from Oaxaca, Guerrero, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Puebla or Zacatecas with Oaxaca being the most famous and producing 90% of Mezcal. Like tequila you want 100% agave, and for sipping probably the reposado or anejo and leave the white for cocktails like a Mezcalrita (a margarita made with mezcal instead of tequila). As mentioned above mezcal has a smoky flavor which is loved by its followers. The smoky taste is not nearly as strong as an Islay scotch.
Now just to confuse matters more there are other agave spirits that are technically mezcal but are not allowed to be called Mezcal because of the laws mentioned above. Money talks in Mexico and the really small producers can’t afford to lobby the government. So some areas have come up with another strategy, which is to create their own rules and name for their mezcal. The best examples of this are:
Bacanora – from Sonora using the agave Pacifica & has a smoky flavor
Raicilla – from Jalisco using the Agave Maximiliana or Agave Raicilla & has no smoke
Sotol – produced in Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango using the Desert Spoon plant & has no smoke
Touring
The primary purpose of our trip to San Jose del Cabo was to experience El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. I loved the movie Coco and had seen lots of pictures and souvenirs of skulls and skeletons in Mexico, so I knew I wanted to see this cultural experience for myself. San Jose was a great place to see the spectacle, although I understand some of the bigger cities like Oaxaca put on an amazing event.
The festivities started on Halloween eve (Oct 30) with some entertainment on the main stage in the town square. However the highlight of this evening was the boxing ring, first there were some amateur boxers then some kick boxing but the best part were the luchadors, the Mexican wrestlers. It was completely over the top. Most of them wore the masks you see for sale in the tourist shops, and most of them sported a substantial belly. The icing on the cake was when they threw guys out of the ring and jumped out and threw folding chairs at each other.
Halloween was for the kids. There were hundreds of them in the square that evening. We really enjoyed seeing the costumes, which were a mix of traditional Mexican and pop culture (including some squid game costumes); in Canada its usually freezing so all the kids have to wear snow suits which limits the costume options. Luckily, I found one discussion online that had advised on taking some candy, which we did. Our north of the Rio Grande mini chocolate bars where a big hit, next time we will need twice as many. The kids were very polite and so happy.
November 1st is “all saints day” in the Catholic calendar. In Mexico this is the day they celebrate the life of departed children. This is also the day we got schooled in El Dia de los Muertos. When I say schooled, I mean so literally. I contacted Melana of Spanish in Cabo, a school primarily designed for English speaking tourists, and asked if they could design a private class for us about the day of the dead. Not only did they give us a great little lesson in Spanish and English about the traditions which are primarily the alters built to remember the dead, they also arranged for us to have our faces painted.
November 2nd is “all souls day” in the Catholic calendar. This is The Day of the Dead. There were traditional dance acts on the main stage, many with wonderful costumes and make-up. I think there was a costume competition, which we missed, because there were some beautiful Catrinas (women with the skull painting and traditional dresses) walking around the plaza.
Since all the Dia de Muertos activities are in the evening we had to do something during the day. Our primary activity is to go bird watching in the estuary – about a 20 minute walk from downtown. Brenda absolutely loves this and I am now a convert; we saw egrets, herons, ducks and ibis and even some iguana. The pelicans and osprey diving into the water to catch fish were pretty awesome.
At our Spanish lesson Melena and Eduardo mentioned they were doing a cooking class that Friday. So we decided to do that as well. It was a fun and easy way to learn some Spanish. As well as delicious. Eduardo is the chef and primary foodie. These people are really wonderful and a great resource. We had a great discussion about travel and food, lubricated with a Banana margarita. Eduardo also runs a travel business including tours to other Mexican cities like Mexico City.
We stayed at Casa Natalia for a week during the Day of the Dead festivities. This boutique hotel is located on the edge of the main town square where all the activity was. It was so convenient to walk out our front door smack into the middle of the action. You might think this would be noisy and there were a couple of evenings when we did hear the music but it always shut down about 10:30 at night so never impacted our sleep.
We moved down to a hotel near the beach for our second week. We went for strolls along the beach, sat by the pool and relaxed. Of course we stuffed our faces with more good food.
Tasting
Our Tequila and Mezcal adventure started with a class by Jorge Cuervo, a direct descendant of Jose Cuervo (the inventor of tequila along with his son). Jorge owns a little restaurant close to the main plaza called cuervoshouse.com where he conducts his classes. The class was supposed to last an hour but we spent 1 ½ hours with Jorge as he was so interesting. Jorge is a Tequila Master (Maestro Tequilero); I had no idea such a designation existed. Jorge did not push his family product, as they no longer own it, but focused on providing information on Tequila. This isn’t really the place to find your next bottle of white lightning as you only taste the 3 main types of tequila for demonstration purposes. We did get to taste a bit of his personal tequila and it was great; next time I’m in San Jose I will drop by to see if he has got his production ramped up and has some bottles for sale. There were so many interesting details and it would take too much time to try to relay them, plus its better you get the full experience yourself. There was one question I had for Jorge that I have been wanting to ask someone which is: what is the difference between a commercial tequila vs an artisanal tequila. The main difference is the agave is estate grown with artisanal tequila. Like wine great tequila starts with the fruit. Premium tequila will be harvested at just the right time when the sugars have developed fully but not used up by the plant yet. Of course the rest of the process is watched carefully through distillation etc.
The next stop was to find a store to buy some tequila. We did find a fantastic store that specializes in artisanal Mexican spirits; tequila, mezcal, the other agave spirits and other liquor like whiskey (with corn being such a staple in Mexico it only makes sense they would make a corn whiskey, known as bourbon in the US). Not only did we find the store named Agave but we found the best meal of our trip at their rooftop restaurant. This was contemporary world class food and cocktails. It would hold up to food we had in Barcelona and Italy. Back to the tasting, a young man spent a good half hour with us giving us two Tequilas, a Mezcal and a Bacanora. They were all great with that bright fruit flavour that is so distinctive. I liked the Bacanora the best but it was the most expensive. I liked the smoke on the Mezcal so bought it. Note these are not your margarita mixers as they cost $100, the cheaper ones C$100 and the more expensive >US$100. These are for sipping on a cold winter night.
This trip also turned out to be a culinary adventure. Having been to San Jose twice before we knew there was great food but with more time we were able to find some stunning places. From the best tacos (fish & meat), to high end like Agave and Flora farms (a beautiful working farm with an amazing restaurant and some great breakfast spots (with some killer avocado toast). We were finally able to get into Baja brewing; the beer and entertainment were great the tacos were OK.
