“ There’s no spirit as handmade as mezcal.” – Edgar Torres, Techo
Edgar and Christina Torres designed and furnished their mezcaleria Techo themselves, pulling many of the pieces from Torres’ hometown of Saltillo in Coahuila, Mexico.
W
alk into any craft cocktail bar, and there’s a good chance you’ll find a drink featuring mezcal on the menu. Often called the
grandfather of tequila, but maybe better
results in a broad range of flavors. Often
hand, and the piñas are roasted before being
described as a much hipper uncle, mezcal is
mezcal has a smokiness to it (it comes from
pulled back out. The juice is then extracted
having its moment in the United States — and
roasting the pi as — the soft fruit at the
from the pi as with the help of a horse-drawn
particularly in Austin.
center of the agave — in underground pits ,
wheel before fermentation begins.
It’s a “moment” that’s been happening
but, much like scotch, it can taste peaty, floral,
“There’s no spirit as handmade as mezcal,”
for centuries in Oaxaca, Mexico. There are
earthy or sweet, too. “People that get really
says Edgar Torres, who, along with his wife
conflicting accounts about when mezcal was
excited about small batch and single barrel
Christina Torres, opened up Techo, a cozy
first created. Some historians believe the spirit
whiskies or vintages of wine … mezcal is [like]
mezcaleria above Mi Madre’s last November.
is 200 years old, while others place its origins
that,” says Billy Hankey, co-owner of King
It’s a big reason for the spirit’s surge in
as far back 500 years, when the Spanish
Bee and a major mezcal enthusiast. “The big
popularity, he thinks. “More people are doing
conquistadors first came to Mexico and
difference is that some of these productions
craft, and asking, ‘What’s the beginning of
brought with them distillation techniques.
are [only] 2 to 150 liters.”
things?’... Mezcal has been doing that forever.
Like tequila, mezcal is distilled from the
Making mezcal is incredibly labor intensive.
It’s very old world.” Matthew Ross, the general
agave plant. Unlike tequila, which can only
The process starts with searching for agaves
manager of Tobal , a candlelit mezcaleria
be distilled from a Blue Agave plant, mezcal
which, because they can’t be grown, can
above Whisler’s, puts it this way: “Tequila is
can be distilled from any of the estimated
require some serious foraging. Once found, all
like your Walmart, mezcal is like your
200 agave species that exist in Mexico, which
of the leaves of the plant are chopped off by
mom-and-pop shop.” CO N T I N UED O N PAG E 7 1
tribeza.com
| APRIL 2016
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