Mezcal Exploratory Trip: Oaxaca, Santa Catarina Minas, Volume 1
Rambhá Mezcal and Los Sánchez
I used to get excited over Friday night high school football games. A bit later in life it was hitting the cigar bar with my buddies. Now, at age 55, there’s nothing I more eagerly await than a journey to Oaxaca to visit mezcal palenques, learn things about them and find beautiful distillations to buy—and sip on them.
Nothing.
As has been the case for the past few years, I went with my wife Cecilia and fellow Mezcal Maniac friends, Fred & Barb and Mark & Rachael, who live here in San Miguel de Allende also. We took quick one-hour-or-less flights from Queretaro to Mexico City; then from there on to Oaxaca. Mark had found us a suitable AirBnB to rent that was quite close to centro. As has been typical, while this place left plenty to be desired, it featured a super great covered, outdoor courtyard that was just an ideal space at which we’d convene (that means “drink”) in the mornings and evenings.
A concern we had from the beginning: what will we do about garrafones this year? Last year the other four drove—so we packed the back of their vehicle with lots of them I’d held onto. But no one was driving this year. Should we ship our empties to Oaxaca? Mark found a reasonable price on brand new garrafones; so we had ten 20 liter and twelve 10 liter containers shipped to the AirBnB. The only problem? We’d forgotten that mezcaleros don’t like using brand new garrafones because of the new plastic smell. And we appreciate that! So they had to cure them, usually by pouring some shishe, (part of the mezcal distillation), into them and splashing it around for several minutes. They didn’t mind doing that, but next year maybe we will trying sending year-old ones to save them the trouble.
So we threw a bunch of them in the back of the rental van and headed out to Santa Catarina Minas, less than a one hour drive from Oaxaca City. They’re known for using clay pot stills, often considered the “ancestral” method of mezcal making. I’d done a fairly deep dive into determining which palenques would be best for us, understanding there’s no way we could have gone to all of them in one day. With Cecilia’s help, we were able to ensure they’d be open that Friday, that they’d be able to spend a little time with us—and that they’d sell us mezcal in bulk.
It was tough not to go see Lalo of Lalocura or Real Minero. They’re both perfectly legit, very popular mezcal brands, but since they’re of a rather large size, they just don’t sell in bulk. No harm, no foul. But that’s what we were there for. So we opted for four others.
I’m not saying Minas is in any way large. It’s not. But only larger when compared to some other tiny mezcal producing villages I’ve been to. There was an actual little town area. I’ve certainly had plenty of clay distilled, (olla de barro), stuff before—and like it. The question was: would I like it better than the copper distilled varieties, and would it be worth the significantly higher cost? I’ll offer my thoughts on that toward the end of the second piece I do on Santa Catarina Minas.
Rambhá Mezcal
I’d seen the photos, read the reviews and even found a video interview of Rosario Ángeles Vásquez, explaining how she started. So I knew we had to go to Rambhá Mezcal. Rosario, who is only the second maestra/o I’ve met who speaks English, didn’t come from a mezcal producing family; instead they were growers of greenhouse tomatoes. She went to university, but at some point not long after starting another career, she decided she’d love to have her own mezcal palenque. I can’t tell how old she is, but have the sense she’s not yet 30. It seems like quite an accomplishment to switch gears in this way and do so well at such a nice young age!
As we pulled up to Rambhá, there was a nice big pile of piñas in the front of the palenque. Long puppies, I knew they were some type of Karwinski. I guessed Tobasiches, and ended up being right. It seems like this might be an especially major agave and mezcal in this region. Great! I LOVE Tobasiche.
Rosario wasn’t there when we arrived, but on her way. So it was good to have her worker Rafael there to start us off. He was very friendly and took us around for a tour, answering our questions and even posing some to us about San Miguel de Allende.
I think every palenque I’ve been to has been pretty great, but this place? There was a certain light and lovely feng shui to it.
Something I didn’t realize: it appears that—not only does everyone in Minas use clay pot stills—but we also noticed that not a single one we visited had a tahona, the stone on a turnstile pulled by horse to crush roasted agave. Instead they all had a pretty small space for crushing them by hand, a process they call “machacado a mano.”
Confession time… For years I’d been under a misapprehension about this. I’d heard someone say they placed the agave into “canoas” for crushing. That translates into “canoes” in English. Great. But they’re not really canoes. That’s just what they call these fairly small indentations in the ground they use. So if you’ve been to one of my tastings in which I said this, my apologies! Jajaja. Who knows? Maybe they used to use actual canoes prior to these pits? Anyway, they let me smash a bit myself; so I won’t forget it!
When Rosario arrived she gave us a tasting that was absolutely first class. Her Espadín Capon was wonderful—as was her Tobasiche. She even had a Tobasiche/Tepextate ensamble. One thing I noticed: when she explained her ensambles, she always quickly noted what percentage of each agave she used in the mix. I’ve always had to inquire about this myself in the past.
She also shared a Tobalá, Tepextate, an Espadín/Jabali ensamble, a Tepextate/Tobalá ensamble. There was a Cuixe—but it was the Rhodocantha as opposed to the Karwinski. A Marteño/Arroqueño ensamble; (the Marteño I’ve only heard of occasionally). She had a Tobalá with mota (marijuana) too. Look: I’m a fan of the mota, using it for sleep nightly. But I’ve never been into weed infused mezcal. This one however was different in that it wasn’t merely an infusion, but instead the weed was actually included in the distillation itself. Very pungent! So if in addition to the cannabis effect, you also love the flavor, this would be a winner for you.
And then I finally had a Pechuga I could say I enjoyed! I suppose there are many stories about just where this originated, but maybe that’s an article in and of itself. Basically it involves hanging a raw chicken or turkey breast inside the still during 2nd distillation and often including fruits, spices and nuts too. I’ve no idea if I’m supposed to be tasting the addition of the breast, and can’t say I have. So it seems it’s more about the other ingredients used. I guess I’ve tried 8 or 10 Pechugas before, with the experience being anything from nonplussed to grossed out. But not this time.
The Pechugas I’ve come across before were made from Espadín; so I always figured they didn’t want to potentially mess up a whole distillation with a more expensive agave as the base when it could be considered a big experiment. But Rosario’s Pechuga was a Tobasiche with apples, bananas, orange peel, raisins, plums and anise. Nothing in there overpowered it however; just a pleasant fruity/spicy flavor along with a wild Tobasiche at a full-on 50% ABV. More about Pechugas in the next article.
At the end of the tasting, some of us decided we’d like to buy some of her wonderful Tobasiche. But since she didn’t have any stored at the palenque, we followed her in our vehicle to her house only 5 minutes or so away. We met some of her family and also discovered just a month ago Rosario had given birth! WHAT?! I guess with her mother there to help, she just got right back to work after having her.
We all wanted her Tobasiche, but she had 3 different varieties for us to try. Crud! I tease. Mark and Fred went with one, while I opted for another with a 54% ABV. I’m keeping this at home to savor!
It was as beautiful a palenque experience as I could imagine, and if that’s what you’re looking for, an experience, I give this one a top recommendation!
Los Sánchez Mezcal Ancestral
We started to make our way to the next spot on our list when I noticed I’d been getting messaged on Facebook by a young mezcalero named Heri (Heriberto) Sánchez who is the maestro mezcalero of the palenque called simply Los Sánchez. We might have gone elsewhere, but Heri was so quick to message me his location—and it turned out he was only .6 of a mile away from us. So off we went.
On this trip I was definitely struck by how many young mezcaleros are not only involved—but heading up palenques. Heri seemed especially young, and I’ve noticed from his Facebook posts in the past week, he’s really making it happen there. Harvesting the maguey, cooking them in his horno. He told me he was the nephew of Félix Ángeles Arellanes, who we’d be going to see next.
I like young mezcaleros. They have WhatsApp numbers and are often happy to ship me samples of new stuff and garrafones of it on occasion. It doesn’t suck!
Heri had us try a Tobasiche, a Tripon, (a Karwinski endemic to Minas that I’ve never tried before) and a Sierrudo, (an Americana that I’ve only had a couple of times.) All three delicious. I wondered if those latter mentioned agaves were growing anywhere close where we could see what they look like. They were.
Los Sánchez’ palenque also hand crushes their roasted agaves, (machacado a mano.) It struck me that a canoa can really be quite small, effectively reducing the total footprint of a palenque.
While the Tobasiche was great, I’d already bought quite a bit from Rosario. But since I didn’t want to leave Heri with nothing to show for our visit, I bought a bottle each of his Tripon and Sierrudo. He then sent a helper of his on a bit of a walk to retrieve them. (Okay; it turned out to be a long walk.) I’m getting the impression that some palenques don’t feel safe in keeping their stock at the palenque itself—especially if they’re not living there. It took awhile, but eventually he showed up, and Heri labeled my bottles. These are presently sitting in one of my mezcal racks, waiting for just the right time to pull them out.
We went to two more palenques that day. Stay tuned for Santa Catarina Minas, Volume 2!
Thank you, adding them on the list for our next visit to Oaxaca.
Any idea how many hours of canoa a mano work they put in for a typical sized batch? Thanks. BB in VA