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My first full day in Mexico (ever). I slept badly. The room was fine, but the mattress was hard. The neighborhood was noisy since it was some holiday about the Immaculate Conception and people were setting off fireworks all night, and well into daylight.
We went for breakfast then left town. We drove to a tiny town called Santa Catarina Minas. Parked a walked a couple of blocks to see an old church. Like most of them, it had been there since colonial times.
Then we went up to the road to the palenque, where they make mezcal. Mezcal is made from agave, like tequila. Tequila is made of the blue agave only, and only in Jalisco. Mezcal is made elsewhere, and of many different varieties of the plant, which is called maguey when it’s not the blue agave. I was introduced to Evodio, the third-generation proprietor (his son has a Palenque across the road). He gave us a couple of varieties of mezcal. All the varieties are made the same way, but differentiated by the variety of maguey. Then he took us out to the fields to where they were growing. He showed us the cooking, mashing, fermenting and distillation areas. After the tour, we went back to the house for lunch. His wife had cooked us chicken and rice. A simple meal, but I must say it was the best meal of the trip! And we had more mezcal.
I left town a couple of bottles of mezcal richer. We drove through the countryside to another small town, where Dave needed to stop at another palenque to buy a particular bottling of mezcal, but they were not there.
We decided to visit some ruins, and stopped in the little town, but the place closed at 3:00 – we arrived at 2:59. We went to a nearby café and had some beer and guacamole and grasshoppers. And then took a look at the church around the corner.
We moved on for a while and stopped at another palenque. This one was along the highway, on a strip with many others. There are maguey farms, palenques and mezcalerias everywhere in Oaxaca. About 70% of all mezcal (not counting tequila) is made in the state. At the previous place, I got two hand-labeled two-liter bottles. By that, I mean with a Sharpie. At this one, I got a pretty little 375 ml bottle.
Then we went back into town, and sat on Dave's rooftop patio. Every afternoon all the expat residents in his building go up to sit and chat with beverages. Later we went back out on the town, and found an Italian restaurant, and sat on the roof.
.
We went for breakfast then left town. We drove to a tiny town called Santa Catarina Minas. Parked a walked a couple of blocks to see an old church. Like most of them, it had been there since colonial times.
Then we went up to the road to the palenque, where they make mezcal. Mezcal is made from agave, like tequila. Tequila is made of the blue agave only, and only in Jalisco. Mezcal is made elsewhere, and of many different varieties of the plant, which is called maguey when it’s not the blue agave. I was introduced to Evodio, the third-generation proprietor (his son has a Palenque across the road). He gave us a couple of varieties of mezcal. All the varieties are made the same way, but differentiated by the variety of maguey. Then he took us out to the fields to where they were growing. He showed us the cooking, mashing, fermenting and distillation areas. After the tour, we went back to the house for lunch. His wife had cooked us chicken and rice. A simple meal, but I must say it was the best meal of the trip! And we had more mezcal.
I left town a couple of bottles of mezcal richer. We drove through the countryside to another small town, where Dave needed to stop at another palenque to buy a particular bottling of mezcal, but they were not there.
We decided to visit some ruins, and stopped in the little town, but the place closed at 3:00 – we arrived at 2:59. We went to a nearby café and had some beer and guacamole and grasshoppers. And then took a look at the church around the corner.
We moved on for a while and stopped at another palenque. This one was along the highway, on a strip with many others. There are maguey farms, palenques and mezcalerias everywhere in Oaxaca. About 70% of all mezcal (not counting tequila) is made in the state. At the previous place, I got two hand-labeled two-liter bottles. By that, I mean with a Sharpie. At this one, I got a pretty little 375 ml bottle.
Then we went back into town, and sat on Dave's rooftop patio. Every afternoon all the expat residents in his building go up to sit and chat with beverages. Later we went back out on the town, and found an Italian restaurant, and sat on the roof.
.
