Mezcal’s Old Soul

Felipe Cortés, a longtime maestro mezcalero, harvests an agave, or maguey, plant in the first step of an age-old process.

Some mezcaleros pound the roasted maguey with a wooden mallet to loosen the caramelized fivers before fermentation.

Mezcal’s bubbles, or “pearls,” bespeak quality.

Felipe and Ageo Cortés search for a ripe maguey.

Oaxaca’s Santo Domingo monastery.

Ramón Cruz Garcia and sons.

Oxen turn a millstone.

Residue from a still.

Mezcaloteca co-founder Marco Ochoa.

Ramón Cruz Garcia.

Mezcaloteca’s labels speak volumes.

Maguey hearts cool after roasting.

Mezcalero Victor Ramos and his wife, Tilde.

Pit-roasted maguey hearts.

Felipe Cortés tests the level of fermentation by smelling the mash.

Some Mezcaleros cultivate their own mezcal plants, to ensure future supply.

Harvesting the maguey plants.

A copper still cap is sealed with cloth strips soaked in mud and stringy agave pulp, called bagazo.

Long copper pipes slant down from each still cap to a central basin.

After completing the first distillation, it will be distilled again for an even more pure and high-alcohol spirit.

Tasting the product.