Each Alipus distiller produces highly individuated mezcals. Here’s Karina Abad talking mezcal with Don Beto and Don Valente. ![]() These agaves have to work hard to mature: no wonder their mezcals are mineral and intense. Here is espadín growing on a steep thin calcareous hillside near Santa Ana del Rio. Don Valente of San Andrés adds a little madrecuishe ( agave Karwinskii), common practice in his area of Miahuatlan. Except for Potrero/San Miguel, where they distill semi-wild arroqueño ( agave americana), all Alipus comes from cultivated espadín ( agave angustifolia). Their Los Danzantes restaurant in Oaxaca (whose population is 48% indigenous, most of it socially and economically marginalized) is now famous.Īnsley Coale of Craft Distillers, who brought Alipus to the USA, deeply shares this motive.Īlipus comprises now nine small family distilleries (some also distill for Mezcalero). To source mezcal for their restaurants, they founded Alipus in 1997, and are largely responsible for getting mezcal accepted as a world-class spirit. They started several restaurants for integrating regional indigenous cooking into fine cuisine, sourcing ingredients from local indigenous suppliers. Three generations of the Cruz family, who distill for Alipus, in their agave fields above San Juan del Rioīrothers Jaime and Gustavo Muñoz are dedicated to bridging the profound gulf between Mexico’s colonial-derived ruling society and its millions of indigenous peoples. It will take hard work and serious intention to keep the artisans who make great mezcal from being forced into the commercialization – and the changes in how they live and work – that took the heart out of bourbon, cognac, tequila. At the bottling plant, the distillates are bottled, labeled and packaged.The essence of the Alipus project : to keep artisanal mezcal authentic by protecting the way the distillers work and the way they live from the powerful forces of rapid modernization. The Mezcal is transported in tanks from there to the Los Danzantes bottling plant in the valley of Tlacolula, since transporting glass bottles (first empty, then filled) over the poor dirt roads that connect the towns to the main roads is impractical. The production sites of the different Mezcals are located between four to six hours by car from Oaxaca city. A technical and cultural “bridge”, such as the one offered by Los Danzantes, is therefore essential to guarantee the sovereignty of the producers over their product and its marketing. No chemicals should be used in agave cultivation or production.įor the sake of understanding, it should be mentioned here that in most of the producer families Zapotec is spoken as a mother tongue and some of the older members do not know Spanish, accordingly they cannot read or write. Assistance with formal procedures such as tax and banking transactions. ![]() Assistance with certification by the Consejo Regulador del Mezcal.Setting uniform standards for production.Technical improvements in the distillery, e.g.The production team of Destilería Los Danzantes and the administration of the company support the producers with the following measures: The producers meet at least once a year at the invitation of Los Danzantes for workshops and exchange of experiences. The smaller producers receive advance payments to prefinance production. ![]() There are projections and targets, depending on what happens in the market, rather than binding agreements. Prices are regularly renegotiated, and these are normally 20% higher than the usual market price in the region. There are no binding contracts between Los Danzantes and the distillers, which is why the latter enjoy maximum freedom to work with other brands, for example, or to set up their own - although no producer has yet abandoned the collaboration.
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