Mezcal Categories: What defines Ancestral, Artesanal, & Mezcal!

As the category of mezcal has boomed, so have brands, styles, producers, and regions. It can be a bit confusing and a bit overwhelming. One of the biggest questions that we get there at Old Town is what is the difference between “ancestral”, “artesanal” and just “mezcal”.

“Mezcal” is a Spanish word that comes from the Nahuatl word “mexcalli” which is combination of “métl” for agave and “ixcalli” which means cooked. So Mezcal = cooked agave. For thousands of years, people have been eating cooked agave. For hundreds of years, people all around Mexico have been producing vino de mezcal, but around the mid 1990’s, a few “crazy gringos” decided that they wanted to share the beauty of mezcal with the world and a few brands hit the market and one of them - Del Maguey - became the game changer.

Del Maguey became the revolutionary, not just because of the product in the bottle, rather it was the passion, appreciation, art, love, and education that was shared by Ron Cooper as he brought his brand up to the United States and eventually around the world. By the mid 00’s bartenders were getting hip to the amazingness coming from Oaxaca and by 2010, many were moving away from tequila as they were looking for something more complex, traditional, soulful, cultural, unique and special. Not just what was in terms of flavors and aromas, but the stories and history that were in each bottle.

People started going to the farthest and deepest regions of Mexico to find amazing mezcales that would “never be on the market”. This lead to people realize that there are people making mezcal today in the same way that it was being made over a hundred years ago, and that some are being made as it would have been from over 400 years ago. This eventually lead the CRM (Consejo Regulador del Mezcal or Regulatory Council of Mezcal), the governing body that oversees the production of mezcal to create three different categories of mezcal that were added to their norma (the rules and regulations for production) in 2016;

-Mezcal

-Artesanal

-Ancestral

Before we get into the differences of each category, it is important to note the basics of what makes a distillate a “mezcal” and before we go any further, mezcal is a cultural word and beverage and there are a lot of people who make mezcal that will never be a “certified mezcal”, but instead a “destilado de agave.” This article is referring specifically to that which is “certified” by the CRM.

Mezcal has to be made from by a producer who is certified by the CRM within the Denomination of Origin of the following nine states; Oaxaca, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Puebla, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, and Durango. Made only from the fermented sugars of any agave, and bottled at a minimum of 35% Alcohol by Volume and a maximum of 55% ABV and of course, to pass specific lab testing. Again, mezcal is to be produced in the DO of nine states, of any agave and bottled between 35-55% abv.

The following comes directly from the NORMA Oficial Mexicana NOM-070-SCFI-2016 (i.e the Rules and Regulation for Mezcal)

Categories of Mezcal

Mezcal

It’s preparation must comply with at least the following four stages and equipment:

a) Cooking: cooking of piñas or the juices of maguey/agave in earthen pits, brick ovens or autoclave.

b) Milling: Tahona, Chilean or Egyptian mill (which is very similar to a tahona, but different) , mechanical mill, or diffuser.

c) Fermentation: wooden containers, masonry basins (concrete or earthen tanks) or stainless steel tanks.

d) Distillation: alembic pot still made of cooper or stainless steel, continuous/column/coffee stills made of copper or stainless steel.

Mezcal Artesanal

It’s preparation must comply with at least the following four stages and equipment:

a) Cooking: cooking of maguey or agave heads in earthen pits or brick/clay ovens.

b) Milling: with a hand mallet, a Tahona, a Chilean or Egyptian mill, or a mechanical mill.

c) Fermentation: done in animal skins, pits or tanks made of stone, earth, tree trunk, masonry basins (concrete or earthen tanks), or wood. And whose process may include the fiber of the maguey or agave (bagazo).

d) Distillation: with direct fire in copper alembic pot stills or Filipino style stills made of clay or wood with clay, copper or stainless steel bottoms; whose process can include the fiber of the maguey or agave (bagazo).

* important to note that heat source is not indicated for the cooking of the agave. Therefore, it is possible to use steam as well as hot rocks that were heated by fire. Also, the stills that are heated by direct fire can be by wood or gas.

Mezcal Ancestral

It’s preparation must comply with at least the following four stages and equipment:

a) Cooking: cooking of maguey or agave heads in earthen pits.

b) Milling: with a hand mallet, tahona, Chilean or Egyptian mill.

c) Fermentation: done in animal skins, pits or tanks made of stone, earth, tree trunk, masonry basins (concrete or earthen tanks), or wood. And whose process may include the fiber of the maguey or agave (bagazo)

d) Distillation: with direct fire in a Filipino style still made of clay, clay and wood; whose process can include the fiber of the maguey or agave (bagazo).

Once again, each of these three categories of mezcal can be made with any agave and bottled between 35-55% ABV.

If we look at Mezcal Real Minero for example, they produce both “artesanal” and “ancestral” mezcales with the only difference is in how the sugars are extracted from the agave. For all of their mezcales, Real Minero cook the agave in an earth pit, ferment in small wood tanks, and distill in clay pot stills. Graciela Angeles Carreño of Real Minero said that three men will work for 12 to 14 hours to mill one ton of agave, while it takes forty minutes to mill the same amount of agave with a wood chipper (mechanical mill). Graciela went on to say that using a mallet for 12+ hours every day is not something that the human body was designed to do as it is physically taxing and not healthy, so they only mill 10% of their agave by hand each year. Finally, to put all of these numbers into perspective, Graciela said that depending on the brix level, Real Minero is able to produce 35-45 liters of Largo, 50-60 liters of Espadín, 45-50 liters of Arroqueño, and 35-50 liters of Tobala for every ton of that variety of agave.

We hope that answers any questions you may have and at the same time encourages you to learn more, try these different varieties of mezcal, and eventually make your way to Mexico and visit these amazing producers. CLICK THIS LINK TO VISIT OUR MEZCAL SECTION AND EXPLORE ALL THE DIFFERENT BRANDS/VARIEITES!

¡Saludos!