FOR SALE: Cisterns of (fire)water | Jan Ziętara

FOR SALE: Cisterns of (fire)water

‘Qué son esos--,’ I’m frantically looking for the word for “vessel”. At this point I regret opting out of Duolingo notifications. ‘Qué son esos… recipientes?’ I’m asking a local granny and pointing at the large boilers atop her house. ‘Gas?’

‘No, chico. Contenedores de agua.’

They first caught my eye in La Ciudad. I put it down to the eclectic architecture of Mexico’s capital: the airport engulfed by a residential area, skyscrapers sandwiched between brick-built houses – the latter sometimes equipped with bulky blobs cosily nestled on the roofs. But what later turned out to be water containers wasn’t just a design choice – it was a necessity.

Last summer, the New York Times did a piece on extreme droughts in northern parts of Mexico. Since the implementation of the 2016 “Agua a tu Casa” [water to your house] programme, rainwater harvesting systems have become commonplace. The blobs do the job. But the fact remains – water is a hot commodity all over the country. The climate is changing and Mexico’s two main seasons, rainy and dry, are increasingly fitful. Access to safe water is not a given; sometimes it needs to be trucked in.

Now that we’ve established that water is scarce in MX, allow me to segue into the main subject: firewater.

A killer crop

What can you plant in the middle of a desert? Cacti, of course. You can shred them into fodder, turn into biogas or simply use them to fence off your property. Cuisine may be their only weak spot. So is there a succulent that checks all the boxes?

Indeed, amigos, we’ve struck gold! Introducing: the agave. An equally multifunctional crop, drought tolerant, edible and, to top it all, one that can be made into commercially viable spirits – mezcal and tequila.

Is there a difference between those two, you may ask? It’s just like with a square and a rectangle... or maybe better, bourbon and whiskey – tequila is a type of mezcal, made specifically from blue agave. Mezcal, on the other hand, famous for its distinct smoky aftertaste, is distilled from a variety of agaves, which translates into unique and changeable flavours of the liquor. Of course, in both cases much depends on the terroir too, but I’ll leave the details to the food critics.

...made in a proper, copper pot

Plant. Cut, harvest, smoke, and crush. Add water and leave to rest. Then purify. Serve with a lime wedge and sal de gusano to taste.

Making alcohol out of agave is a laboursome endeavour, to say the least. The plants mature slowly – seven years in the case of the blue agave, and more for many others. Mind you, we’re talking about a one-time use plant. In order to process it, you need to unearth the whole thing! The sources are inconclusive as to the exact amount of agave necessary to produce a bottle of liquor, since that largely depends on the alcohol content of the drink. A rough estimate is that anything between 10 and 25 kilos of it can be made into a litre of mezcal (100% agave; min. 40% ABV).

In the wake of a greater demand – and with the farmers’ hopes for a more regular income – agave plantations have straggled over the Mexican land. While some eight years ago a kilogram of agave was priced at around $0.20, in late 2022 it was almost eight times more expensive. Reaching astonishing highs of $1.50 (over PLN 6.50 at the time), the farmers are quick to react. The strategy is simple: plant more, harvest more. After all, this trend will not last forever.

To speed up the whole process, many growers choose root cuttings as the technique of propagating agave. The offshoots mature quicker, undercutting the germination (that is, growth from seed) by a couple of years. The downside is that, because the genetic diversity is compromised, the plants are more prone to diseases. So you account for that – and plant more.

Whiskey certainly had its moment in the spotlight. Now mezcal is here to pick up the slack, and it is on its way to become US’s most-purchased spirit by value, trailing only vodka. And the celebrities, hand in hand with big business, have sniffed out an opportunity.

Celebrity depletion

If you’re still doubting agave’s status as a cash crop, take a look at the list of celebrity liquors. It goes on and on, but for the purpose of this article I have put together a humble précis: Breaking Bad stars, Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston own “Dos Hombres Mezcal”; George Clooney has “Casamigos Tequila”; Mark Wahlberg advertises his “Flecha Azul”; The Rock sips on his “Teremana”, while Kendall Jenner sticks to her “818”; Michael Jordan’s “Cincoro” is jousting with Lebron’s “Lobos 1707”; all this while, comedians Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer have only just recently thought of teaming up for a tequila – sloppy!

Then there’s Jimmy Buffet, Kevin Hart, Thomas Rhett, Sam Heughan, George Strait, Eva Longoria, AC/DC, The Chainsmokers, Santana, Adam Levine, and Nick Jonas. And these are just celebrity brands.

By now, it is an open secret that these folks are more concerned with the revenue than the traditional ways of producing spirit – or the well-being of its producers. It might seem that all they care about are catchy names, bottle designs, and punt profiles. (No, on second thought, I am quite sure that those who know how to call “the dimple at the bottom of a bottle” borderline statistical significance…)

But celebrities investing in one of Mexico’s national products should be a good thing, right?

Giving back to the community

There is one more piece to this puzzle, though. Think Parmigiano Reggiano, Champagne, or the Polish “oscypek”. They all have protected designation of origin (PDO) status. And though this designation is specific to goods produced within the European Union, Mexico has its own policies aimed at protecting and promoting its quality products (Denominación de Origen, D.O.). Naturally, foreign companies – and the above mentioned private celebrity investors – would like a slice of the cake. But as long as the money is flowing, obtaining a PDO is just a spot of bother.

What does it mean in practice? The very policy that was supposed to protect the agave farmers and artisanal techniques of producing mezcal has had the opposite effect. Many family businesses simply can’t afford to pay top dollar for the PDO certification, and are thus unable to compete against “the real” brands with a shiny sticker. Large and celebrity brands were being handed formal legitimacy on a silver platter and they have eagerly capitalised on that fact.

In strive for sustainability – it might seem, though, only the sustainability of profits – the moguls have turned to compulsive hoarding. Planting their own agave makes them reliant on the farmers no longer, crowding them out in the process. What the big enterprises do, however, is they employ day labourers among the locals to work on the company’s land. For peanuts.

The agave is grown and distilled in Mexico, true, but is then immediately shipped away. The commission for the state is laughable. And for the local farmers it really doesn’t matter that Kendal Jenner’s brand’s distillery “runs on biomass and solar power” or that The Rock provides nutritional facts on the back label of his booze.

Legislative dry spell

Agave plantations in themselves are very much sustainable. The plants hardly require water, which makes them a perfect crop for Mexico’s desert regions. That said, the money-driven, excessive and relentless growth of these succulents negatively impacts the biodiversity of the land. While the Mexican government failed to introduce substantial policies to protect its national interests, foreign celebrity ad campaigns succeeded in portraying high-end goods as genuine artisanal products.

Jumping on the bandwagon of the premium alcohol craze, mezcal has become very popular in recent years, but Mexico already has the unsurpassable edge over any upcoming competitors. Its two states, Jalisco and Oaxaca, are responsible for producing the majority of the world’s tequila and mezcal, respectively. No commercial or state entity would bother to draw level with them. What Mexico should do then is step back and regain control over its heritage.

Looking after the manual workers at the plantations would be a good start. Then, raising the sustainability standards – the choice would be simple: the companies either turn to seed or go to seed. Next, the price of the PDO certification should be adjusted to the volume of liquor produced in each distillery, allowing family businesses to establish a foothold on the market.

Lest I forget – efforts to upgrade water infrastructure continue. Just last year, the National Water Commission launched tenders for the construction of aqueducts and water treatment plants for Monterrey and Comarca Lagunera (2nd and 10th largest metropolitan areas in the country). Though, it would not hurt to receive a little help, would it? I don’t suppose Kendal Jenner would finance an aqueduct in northern Mexico, but a tag saying: “1 bottle of my tequila = 1 rainwater harvesting system” sure does sound catchy! Oh, to dream big dreams...

I’m told that hindsight is a wonderful thing.