“They say that people in America like mezcal a lot,” says Fortunato Angeles, leaning on a wooden tank of fermenting agave at his distillery in San Juan del Rio, Oaxaca. “I like the work because it puts food on the table.”
Generations of farmers in Mexico have harvested agave from the hills around their villages to distill mezcal for their neighbors, distributing the liquor by the shot or in a used Coke bottle. But, if you’ve recently been to a bar where mustaches and unique cocktails predominate, you’ve probably seen a margarita with tequila replaced by its authentic, smokier brother, mezcal. That transition, from backwoods moonshine to a drink for the global cosmopolitan elite, has opened a door for substance farmers in Mexico’s poorest regions to plug into the world market. But many also worry that the transition will destroy the small-batch tradition, either crushing quality with the need to scale or destroying wild agave populations to meet short term demand.
After reading countless articles in which mezcal aficionados debated the future, I decided to drive down to Mexico to talk with the mezcaleros themselves to see what they thought might happen. And, by and large, I found optimism. Small distillers are making more stable livings, new laws are reducing dangerous methanol content (which causes liver damage and, potentially, blindness) and the sudden global focus on the spirit is forcing producers to focus on sustainability. The industry is young and there are plenty of kinks to work out, but more people than ever now care about the outcome.
“Some people are marketing their mezcals like, ‘Drink this before it goes extinct,’ but thatap bullshit,” says Santiago Suarez, co-founder of Mezcal Amores, one of the largest mezcal brands. “Just plant more of those wild agaves.”
— Alec Jacobson
Photographer is a and the Executive Director of the nonprofit at home in Telluride, Colorado. He photographed this story on mezcal production in Mexico during October and November 2016.