The Spike Pub & Liquor Store - ABLE BC

Spotlight on Agave Spirits
by Shawn Soole
The Untapped Mexican Elixirs
Tequila can bring back those memories of late
nights as a young adult; your first night at the bar
trying to test your drinking stamina with shot after
shot of cheap tequila. Each shot burning, turning
your night into a blur of beer chasers and a distinct
turning in your stomach. Mezcal probably conjures
up memories of dares and pressure from fellow
drinkers to eat the preserved worm or scorpion
after the bottle is done. These are the recollections
of people all over the world when you mention the
word tequila, creating a bad name for liquor with
the Mexican spirit for life. But what happens when
your humble tequila and mezcal gets a high-end
makeover Well move over gimmicky, burning
lighter fuel! The Mexicans are bringing their art
of fine agave spirit-making north.
Agave spirits can be broken down into a few
distinctive groups that most people would have
heard of, plus a few that they may not have.
Everybody has heard of the famous tequila - the
trendy shot to have at the hippest joints. Tequila is
made in the area surrounding the city of Tequila,
down the Jalisco coast to Guadalajara and then
east to Arandas. Tequila and agave spirits in
general are produced from - you guessed it -
agave. Agave, long thought to be a cactus, now
has its own classification. There are 423 species of
agave in this region, not all good enough to make
tequila. The best agave to use in tequila is blue
agave, but with shortages in supply over the last
ten years, many big names in tequila have used
a blend of blue agave and other agaves. These
tequilas are classified as mixto.
Tequila production is a labour intensive endeavour.
From the waiting period of up to 10 years for the
agave to mature, to the sometimes dangerous job
of slicing the leaves off with a coa de jima, a six foot
pole with a paddle like, razor sharp blade attached
to it. It takes a jimador less than two minutes to
harvest the agave, slicing through the leaves with
such precision as to not slice off his toes. The result
is a piña which resembles something of a green
and white pineapple that weighs anywhere up to
170 pounds. Inside this piña is the sweet nectar; to
obtain the nectar the piña is baked to caramelize
the juice that will soon be extracted by crushing
it. Traditionally the piña is crushed using a giant
mortar wheel, which is towed by a mule or an
ox. The nectar is then distilled straight to create
100% agave or mixed with water to create a mixto
and distilled in a traditional copper still. Once
the tequila is finished, it is bottled right away to
become a blanco, and aged for anywhere from
36 The Publican
three weeks to five years. The periods of aging
vary between tequila and mezcal.
Mezcals have always been associated with the
worm or the scorpion that lies in wait for you at
the bottom of the bottle. To put urban legends
to bed, that little creature is not there to suck
out the alcohol from the liquor, only to give you
a high octane kick at the end of the bottle, it’s
simply a gimmick to get you to buy it. A good
mezcal is great enough on its own. Mezcal is a
style of agave spirit that is not for the faint of
heart, produced further south in the Oaxaca
region using a distillation process that is slightly
different to tequila, making it a worthy adversary.
Mezcal distillers have spent over 400 years
perfecting the spirit, first by the indigenous locals
and the Spanish conquistadores. It starts with
five different types of agave being harvested in a
similar manner to tequila, and then taken for the
first and very different step of production.
The mezcal piña is shredded of its leaves and
husks. The leaves are then placed under a pit of
river rocks to smoke the piña, which is covered
with the husks to keep in the flavour. The pit can
be any size, but its main purpose is to smoke and
heat the piña to concentrate the natural sugars
in the bulb. The smoking of the piña before
crushing it is the key step in the production
process; it can go on for as long as five days. What
remains after the smoking, is a charred bulb of
concentrated agave syrup, ready for crushing. The
steps after this are very similar to tequila, but the
final product is what differentiates mezcal from
tequila. Mezcal has a distinct, obvious smoky
nose to it with other aromas including tar, leather,
and charcoal. It is more of a sipper similar to a
Speyside Scotch, rather than a quick shot at the
start of the night.
Agave spirits are complex, as you can already
see. There are different methods, styles, and
aging. Aging any spirit can be beneficial in the
way that it adds complexity and balance to liquid,
adding in flavours of wood, caramel, and leather
while taking out any harsher chemical flavours.
There are four distinct styles of aging for agave
spirits. First you have Blanco or Plata; these styles
require no aging. These are clear and are used
mainly in cocktails. In Mexico, people prefer to
drink it as an apéritif before lunch in the classic
fashion of neat with salt and lime. This style of
agave spirit is beginning to get popular with the
tequila fraternity, due to producers taking the
time to create a great base spirit instead of letting
aging do the work. This new, invigorated thinking
behind Blancos and Platas has made way for
drinkers who would love the aged agaves to come
back and try these complex yet light spirits. These
silver beauties have enlightening flavours of sweet
agave nectar, tropical fruits, and refreshing citrus.
Put an agave spirit in a cask for at least two months,
but not longer than a year, and what do you get
A Reposado. Reposados are the biggest selling
agave spirits in Mexico, used to pair with food
as you would wine in North America. Offering
the light, refreshing flavours of a Blanco with the
beginning complexity of an Añejo, this style of
agave gives the drinker a step-up experience that
they can’t achieve with a regular Blanco. When it
comes to aging of agave spirits, there are no hard
and fast rules on what they should be aged in.
The last two styles can be grouped together -
Añejo and the latest (available only in the last few
years) Extra Añejo. Añejo is aged for a minimum of
one year but less than three. This is the big daddy
of all agave spirits. It’s all about the wood and the
flavours the wood brings to the spirit. Caramel,
vanilla, and cigar box come to mind when smelling
a fine Añejo; these follow through to flavours of
leather, chocolate, and sweetened agave nectar.
This is the epitome of a fine sipping spirit, similar
to a scotch or even-aged rum. Extra Añejo is the
latest in aged agaves, aged for a minimum of five
years. What does this give you A pure, smooth,
woody sipper that will change your mind forever
about tequilas and mezcals.
With North America beginning to get more fine
imported spirits, you can’t help but wonder what
is in store for agave spirits. Perhaps your customer
is a purist who likes her Blanco neat with some
fine chicken tamales or in a classic Margarita,
or maybe one of your regulars is a scotch fiend
who is looking for a new conquest. Whatever the
case, tequilas and mezcals have brushed off their
immoral and sometimes downright evil cloaks and
are now a force to be dealt with.