Agavefest Was a Hit in Dolores Hidalgo!
Bringing Lots of Guanajuato Mezcal Producers to One Place
The rainy season in central Mexico gave us a break the weekend before last, as it was beautiful, sunny, but not too hot for Agavefest 2023. It was held at La Capilla Hotel in Dolores Hidalgo, only about a 30 minute drive from our house in San Miguel de Allende.
It’s hard to count all the participants at an event like this, but I’m guessing there were close to 20. Cecilia and I noticed a couple of pulque expositors, but the great majority were there with mezcal! This was definitely focused on Guanajuato producers, but there were a couple from nearby San Luis Potosi as well.
Right at the beginning of the lineup was a mezcal brand I’d seen before, but know nothing about, that’s based in nearby Mineral de Pozos: Fuerza de Dios. I was concerned there might have been a problem, because the lovely, young ladies at the booth just didn’t seem happy. But once we started asking questions, they were helpful and attentive.
This brand has a remarkable website, which isn’t always common in this area. They feature an Espadín from Oaxaca, a Salmiana from Guanajuato and a Cenizo from Durango. None were bad at all, but the Espadín and Salmiana, both at 40% ABV, were a bit light for our taste. The Cenizo however was 45%, and we both enjoyed it a lot. I had a suspicion: “Was Gilberto Roldán the maestro mezcalero for this Cenizo?”
And he was! 😃 Lucky guess? Maybe. But I’ve enjoyed Gilberto’s Cenizos and Sotoles before, and I’ve never had one I didn’t really like.
Next up: our friends Alejandro and Betty from Hacienda Vergel de Guadalupe were smiling as big as Jupiter. We’re planning a trip to go see them sometime this year, and look forward to it. My friend, their Mapisaga is just smashing! The 43% is lovely and mildly sweet, and the 54% rocks my world! I’m still savoring some from a bottle I have left.
It seems like I’ve been seeing Mezcal Chantaman for quite awhile now, but finally got to meet owner and maestro Antonio Cordero Vales at this event. Very friendly and a good English speaker, I talked with him for quite while. Based in San Luis de la Paz, it turns out he has deep family roots in Guanajuato’s mezcal history.
Antonio is also doing something I always thought would be a neat idea: making ensambles of the local Salmiana and other agaves not endemic to this area. He had both Salmiana/Espadín and Salmiana/Tepextate ensambles!
Next up: Las Alondras Mezcal, named for the young woman who is the maestra mezcalera, Alondra, who was there with her twin brother, Gregorio. She had quite a few interesting and delicious things to sip, including (if I understood correctly) a joint distillation she did with the storied Mezcal Campanilla of San Luis Potosi. That one was special! (Confidentially, I can’t wait to go see the Campanilla folks sometime. I hear it’s a unique mezcal experience!)
I’d never been to La Capilla Hotel before, but I’d say it was a great place for a festival. Plenty of room for vendors, and for people to mill about. There were some good food options—and of course zillions of mezcal samples, but the one thing you really didn’t see there: people drinking beer. I’m pretty sure the reason was that, although beer can be a great refresher whilst quaffing agave spirits, they were selling them for 150 pesos each! 😳 For reference, at most places a typical domestic cerveza is 30 to 50 pesos. Once in awhile you might see something up in the 60 to 80 pesos range—and big, imported microbrews might strike the 90 or 100 pesos territory. But 150 pesos (almost nine bucks US) for a Corona? No manches. Ah well; who needed a beer with all that mezcal around?
My friend, Alex Vasconcelos, was there with his relatively new Mezcal Noble Indulto brand. His distillery and huge agave farm are right there in Dolores Hidalgo, so he didn’t have far to travel. My next article will feature a visit some friends of mine and I took there last weekend, which I’m looking forward to sharing with you. But this day he had both a nice, soft Espadín and a distilled pulque.
Alex explained that, the weather being a bit cooler in our region, there’s really only a few months that are appropriate for cooking and fermenting agave. So why completely shut down nine months of the year when you can distill some pulque? Mezcal snob that I am, I sipped this one with care… Definitely sweeter than I’m used to, but I decided that—if there were no other mezcales around…I’d definitely drink this. 😜 And it grew on me.
It was good to see the Pozo Hondo folks again. I’ve been to their huge hacienda in San Luis de la Paz (right next door to Mineral de Pozos) a couple of times. There are multiple people involved in this operation, including my friend Juan Pablo. There’s also the serious and talented maestra mezcalera, Sara Martinez, whom we see fairly often. But this day I met another member of the family who actually lives near Washington DC, and who is involved in promoting some of the products made here.
They offer 3 varieties of mezcal—all made from Salmiana Crassispina. One is at 40%, another at 43%, but the one that always pulls me in is their 50% distillation. Nice, full and with a mineral essence, it’s everything a good Salmiana should be.
You know those people you meet, but whom you only see once every year or two—and you forget their names? 😬 I hate that! But I’ll confess that’s been the case with Randall (who also goes by Pancho) of Agua Dulce Mezcal Artesanal. He also has a fun speakeasy mezcal bar in Queretaro I’ll write about sometime. He’s super friendly, speaks excellent English—and this young dude seems to really have it going on! Not only does he make mezcal himself, but he collaborates with other producers from around Mexico for some of his offerings. Right now it appears he’s featuring 11 different distillations on his website.
And, after at least 4 different sipping experiences, my wife and I both agree: his Bronco, which is made from Salmiana Salmiana, might just be our favorite Salmiana. At 45% I’m kind of surprised, because I normally like this variety quite a bit higher! But it’s also not too light either, is well balanced, delicious and offered at a very fair price.
I’m not forgetting Randall’s name again.
One surprise find at this festival: MezcAllende. Yep; a brand I’ve never heard of—and located right here in San Miguel de Allende—pretty close to my damn house! Who do they think they are not contacting me in advance?! That’s a demerit for them! 😁 I tease. They had a very decent Espadín to share, and while I can’t find a website for them, they do actually have a TikTok account. 😁
If I’d written this article more quickly after the festival, I probably could have remembered some of the names of other producers a bit better, but…I get busy sometimes, y’know? 🙄 But as I hinted at earlier, I’ve got plenty more stuff to tell you about. I’ll do that soon.
Coming to San Miguel de Allende? Living in San Miguel de Allende? Send me a message and we’ll meet up for some mezcal some time. Till then: salud!