In The Portrait Category of Mexico… almost everyone knows Mexican tequila, much less mezcal.
Mezcal is produced from the heart of the agave that has matured for 6 to 12 years. The heart of agave, which weighs between 30 and 60 kg, is then cooked according to a traditional method that endures in a traditional oven at the fire of wood and stones covered by straw and sand paintings, and this between 24 hours and 3 days. An ancestral technique always respected. This cooking allows to transform the sugar starches that will then turn into alcohol. After cooking, the piña is cooled and rests up to a week. Then she’s ground to extract the pulp. This last operation is carried out in a press or on a stone or concrete disc on which a stone wheel turns. Following a series of operations to ferment the pulp thanks to its own yeast up to 30 days. Next, a double distillation is made and finally an ageing of a few months to several dozen years.
I had the chance to meet an adorable family of Oaxaca (Mezcal Del Amigo) who allowed me to photograph them and took us to their field of agaves…
I’m taking you on a trip with me…
