For wine, sommeller, and for mezcal, mezcal. When half the world still does not know about this Mexican distillate that warms the throat, the liquid is already climbing the denominations of luxury and haute cuisine. Eight million liters of mezcal come out of clay and copper stills every year, robbing tequila of a bit of its fame, braided with magical sentences and impossible properties. Oaxaca, the most typical state in Mexico, is the heart of the distillate. There is the Carreño hacienda, with three brands and seven labels of agave varieties, the maguey that lends the enormous pineapples that will be cooked underground. Lorena Carreño (San Dionioso Ocotlán, 1967) is the general secretary of the house. She travels halfway around the world to publicize her bottlings, which already have the best prizes in the San Francisco World Spirits and flavors of roots, ash, rosemary, almonds, papayas, flowers travel through her sommelier mouth. She now searches the Russian market for her mezcal, which is presented as a manna. They know how to get warm.
Ask. Mezcal, with more than 40 degrees of alcohol, is the least raw. Is that an urban legend?
Answer. No, it’s real, what happens is that it’s organic, all organic distillates don’t generate hangovers, but you have to hydrate like with any alcohol. It influences the amount you take, that you do not eat food and do not drink water, that is the subject.
P. That doesn’t leave a hangover… He doesn’t tell me that to my face.
R. Mezcal appropriated that phrase, because it makes you magical. You can make mezcal from 35 to 55 degrees, which are already big words. We chose 46 degrees because that is how our master mezcaleros leave it. The issue is abuse. Even work is bad in excess.
P. Is it heresy to say that mezcal is a smoked tequila? Both come from the agave, the cactus so characteristic of Mexico.
R. The tequila is only of the blue agave variety, and they make it white, reposado and añejo. Mezcal is those three things and, in addition, matured in glass and abocado, which is when you add ingredients that are not agave, for example if you put the worm or the turkey breast; and you can use 30 varieties of agave and mix it, like grapes for wine.
P. In Mexico, among young people it is almost heresy to say that you prefer tequila to mezcal. They take it almost like an artisanal drug linked to the land and worldviews and things like that.
R. There are experiments with cannabis, but it is not regulated yet. That would be an abocado, because there is an ingredient that is not agave. We only do it with turkey breast, pineapple and grapes. The breast is threaded on a thread and put into the still, the steam cooks it and releases its juice. It’s crazy, but wonderful. The world of mezcal is richer than that of tequila, it is a search for flavors.
P. But is it magical or not, do you travel or not?
R. If you are not used to traveling, it makes you magical, yes.
P. What about fashion?
R. In Oaxaca it is normal, they offer it homemade at parties, weddings, wakes, and it is an offense to say no. In the rest of Mexico there is still a lot of work to be done, they say it is expensive. And then there is George Clooney, who made his mark… That exposure with public figures helps, but they don’t know the process.
P. Mezcal statistics have been rising for years. It won’t just be George Clooney. Perhaps youth has turned its gaze to the artisanal, the rural.
R. I think that it is no longer fashion, but that we are returning to the basics, to the artisanal. In the 1990s there was a deficit of agave and tequila was allowed to use 51% agave and 49% other sugars. Very few tequilas have 100% agave. In the case of mezcal they do not allow that. Millennials are looking for those things and the circular economy. My son now looks at the recycling of the leaves that are discarded, for example, and we have started making t-shirts, they are not as soft as cotton but it is good to recycle. Because you cut the fruit from the vines and they give again, but here you pull up the maguey and the plant is already lost, you have to plant another. The regulatory council says that for every plant you cut you put one, we are at about three. To reforest. And we sow in stages so that they grow. The fast-growing sprat takes an average of seven years for the pineapples to acquire sugar and become profitable.
P. In the case of agave, planting is reforesting.
R. Yes, but in some varieties you have to wait more than 10 years to harvest. The pineapple will be ripe when the quiote sprouts. You can cut the plant or let the flowering take its course, so that the animals pollinate. It is important for bats, hummingbirds and other birds. If you leave 10% of your plants uncut, they give you a stamp of bat-friendly for contributing to pollination. It can also be replanted from the suckers. It is the tree of wonders, although it is not a tree.
P. mezcal. This is going overboard right?
R. That’s French fashion. There are purists against tasting mezcal because it is a distillate, but if it has varieties, then of course a sensory analysis can take place.
P. But the prizes won at San Francisco World Spirits come through blind tastings.
R. Yes, we won two double golds and some silvers, in 2020, just before we entered the pandemic.
P. It’s like an Oscar.
R. Yes, but the one in Brussels more than the one in San Francisco.
P. Shouldn’t those contests be in Mexico?
R. It is that they already exist there for other distillates, they have only added mezcal.
P. Why is drinking tequila or mezcal so expensive in Mexico?
R. For the taxes. For the Treasury to put the label on it, you have to spend 53%, and they are not deductible.
P. What alcoholism the hacienda, he sucks half the bottle.
R. He is my senior partner. And then there is VAT, which can be deducted. Costs of all kinds, we bring the cork from Portugal, the labels are made of biodegradable ink, the glass is 100% recyclable…
P. In a country like Mexico, where the narco gets his claws into any profitable business, aren’t they afraid that he sneaks into the agave like he did in the avocado, for example?
R. Yes, there is always the risk that the narco enters, they stole some 1,800 plants from us that were about six months old, they uprooted them. To sell them on the black market. A baby costs about 15 pesos. I filed a complaint to establish a precedent, because they are not going to return them to you, but… We were not the only ones, there were more thefts.
P. But you still feel like the little brother of tequila.
R. Yes, definitely yes. Tequila did a great job at the international level, opening the market, making us known around the world. In any place on the planet, to say tequila is to say Mexico or the other way around. Tequila is very well protected.
P. He says that in the United States they drink more mezcal than in Mexico. It will be because there are many Mexicans there.
R. Yes, we are recovering the territory. But the gringos also take it. I wanted to do the best for my clients… but then the gringos arrive, who really are one thing… These guys mix it up with everything. They have no problem with prices, but they lack that cultural part. they put Coca Cola… I said, let’s see, do you want one for cocktails? Well, that’s it, we take out the Naran brand and put tamarind, strawberry or passion fruit on it and they are so divine.
P. What has happened to the bottles, has there been a shortage of glass during the pandemic?
R. With glass no, with glass yes, everything has gone for vaccines.
P. Now they are going for the Russian market.
R. I went to Russia in 2017 to see if they liked it and they loved it. And they do drink, but as Cossacks, now they do…
P. Haven’t they sent Putin a little bottle, let’s see what happens?
R. Well, not yet, let’s see if he calms down with the Ukraine thing.
P. How about in Spain?
R. The second export country is now the United Kingdom and Spain and Germany fluctuate in third place. Germany is interesting, it would be a next step, to be in the European Union. We are seeing how we enter.
P. That thing about the worm in the bottle is pure exoticism, right?
R. The worm nests under the root of the maguey. Someone in the past thought of adding it to the mezcal to give it a little flavor.
P. Or it fell into the bottle and they didn’t take it out.
R. AHA. Now it became more folklore. There is with a scorpion, with a viper of I don’t know what, everything is very exotic.
P. What does mezcal pair with?
R. For a long time, wine was always talked about pairing with French food, but in Mexico quail is not even eaten. So we did this exercise of pairing wine with local food. Mezcal pairs with mole, barbecues. In Oaxaca, food is also a theme. The map of Mexico is divided into four gastronomic zones: the north, the south, the center and Oaxaca. Mexican food is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for Oaxaca.
P. You from Oaxaca are very presumptuous…
R. Like the Andalusians. They are so vain that when they look at the pomp they applaud. With flamenco, ha ha ha.
P. Pair the mezcal with foreign food.
R. It is versatile, it can be as an aperitif, during the meal or as a digestif. If it’s pre-drinking with all the fresh fruit, then my bet is 40 degrees, why spoil it with fruit, it’s like giving yourself a Vega Sicilia and making a sangria. In food, very spicy cuisine, Oaxacan, Pueblan, Yucatecan: moles, tuna, shrimp, it depends on what you want to explore; and for dessert, with chocolates, blackberry cake.
P. What is the Vega Sicilia of mezcal?
R. For me the maguey cuishe.
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