Part 1 of Our Oaxaca Vacation: Making Mezcal

In February, Doug and I took a week long vacation in the city of Oaxaca, located in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

The highlight of our trip was witnessing the preparation of the agave roasting and seeing the villages around Oaxaca, which was totally unplanned. Doug's curiosity for Mezcal led us to meet the founder and owner of Del Maguey Limited, Ron Cooper. Ron lives in Taos, New Mexico and he comes to Oaxaca about ten times a year to visit his mezcal producers. Ron invited us to to visit one of his producers on the rare occasion that they roast the agave (2-3 times per year). What a GREAT day - tasting mezcal, drinking beer, munching on fresh cheese and chips, and of course, meeting the local folks!

Below is a slideshow on how one family makes Mezcal. Picasa is not allowing the audio to come through on the videos, so I posted them on YouTube. Click on the slide show for more viewing options using Picasa and to see photo descriptions.


Making Mezcal - 1st of 2 videos.

The almost final step in preparing the multi-day roast is to pour water on it.

Making Mezcal - 2nd of 2 videos

Caroline had the honor of placing a cross to seal the roasting agave hearts. A woman must perform this final and most critical step.