Sunset – July 2019

76 JULY/AUGUST 2019

SIP

Wo k e

Smoke

Mezcal has become

so big that brands

are beginning to think

small. That means

sustainable single-

village sips and

infi nitely delicious

drinking.

By HUGH GARVEY

For a moment it seemed that

mezcal’s popularity might be

its undoing. With dozens of va-

rieties of agave being distilled

across Mexico—from the high

forests of Oaxaca to the dusty

wilds of Durango—there are

thousands of permutations

possible. Bottlings differ in fla-

vor, depending on the variety

and age of the source plant, the

fickle wild yeasts that jump-

start fermentation, and wheth-

er the roasted-agave juice was

fermented in pine, clay, or cow-

hide. The resulting elixir can

taste of pine, citrus, herbs,

cent right in blind tastings,”

dle drove up demand for rare

mezcals, and in turn drove

some varieties of agave to near

extinction. But in recent years

ship, large-scale replanting

of rare varieties, and more

mezcalero-owned companies.

morphing, smoke-tinged spirit

of mezcal mindfully.

Mexico’s

combined m

DOCs (^) make up (^) the ezcal
(^) largest of
fi-
cially reco
gnized gro
gion in the (^) world wing re-

. Here are
the

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