I first met Alex Vasconcelos when I stopped into Mezcal-Art here in San Miguel de Allende almost 7 years ago. I don’t even think they had the bar in operation at that time. Cecilia was busy, and I’d just made a mezcal delivery in Otomi; so on the way back I thought I’d check out this new joint. Inside the store was Alex, who spoke a bit of English, and another young man who didn’t. He started giving me sample sips, so I thought: let me go out to the car and bring in a box of some of my stuff!
A friendship was born…
Of course Mezcal-Art was our Friday meet-up place for a long time, and Alex’s brother Rafa was running things. Why? Because big brother Alex was busy building his agave farm and destileria on a great big tract of land in Dolores Hidalgo, which had been family land for many years. He’s dubbed it Biosfera Farms.
About a year and a half ago a few of us went to see how things were going, but it would be shortly thereafter when Alex would officially open the doors. And it was just a week or so ago that I’d gather together a group of 15 local Mezcal Maniacs to really check this place out.
Alex is one of the most knowledgeable people I know on the responsible and sustainable management of farming agaves. He reminds us that, because an agave only requires about one liter of water per year and the fact that they grow beautifully where other crops don’t, they are an excellent choice in regions like this.
Further, while so many have historically just discarded the agave waste after harvesting, what he and others have learned is that the sharp leaves (pencas) can be used in many ways: as a superior cattle feed—after fermentation, as pet food and even kitty litter. And this they’re doing. There are a number of other uses the fiber can be put to as well.
All that AND it makes the world’s most magnificent spirit! Damn!
Alex started us off on a brief walk from the building to the vivero (nursery) area. This is where he plants agave seeds and brings them along to a size in which they can be planted on his 60 hectare (148 acre) farm.
He’s been advising me on raising my own small bed of agave seeds, and one important recommendation: using what we call a malla sombra, or a shade cloth, to make sure the young seedlings don’t burn in the Summer sun. You’ll notice he uses the same method on his much larger nursery in the photo.
Here he’s been planting the primary mezcal-making agave varieties endemic to this area: Salmiana Salmiana, Salmiana Crassispina and a local Americana known as Cenizo (although not the same as the one from Durango.) He also has 20 hectares of land in nearby Comonfort, which is in a valley and thus provides a microclimate in which he can grow certain agaves that wouldn’t usually thrive in our elevated region. There he is also growing Espadín, Tequilana (Blue Weber), Mapisaga, Applanata and Marginata. Being a great lover—like most Mezcal Maniacs—of Jabalí, he’s trying to raise some there too, but just as an experiment.
There’s a really lovely agave garden—almost a museum—with a sign in front of each for identification. I noticed most of the local varieties, but also some non-endemic ones. Yep: even a couple of Jabalí!
There were multiple wings to this garden. I even spotted some plants I’d never heard of before. While one might not expect a destileria to have such a beautifully maintained space, it sure sets Noble Indulto apart from most.
There is more than one thing I noticed as different at Noble Indulto. I have never seen an horno (oven) like this one. Here in the state of Guanajuato (and other areas) the hornos are normally not of the conical, in-ground variety, but are instead above-ground. One thing I like about them is that they can easily control the fire with this design, as they access it from below, while the agaves roast in an enclosed “room” above.
Ever wonder how the maestros in Oaxaca can know how the fire—and those tons of agaves are doing underneath the tarps and layers of dirt? I have!
As you can see from the photo, Alex has created a conical, in-ground horno—although it’s wider and a bit shallower than those you may be familiar with. And you’ll notice that there is indeed access to the fire underneath. Guanajuato meets Oaxaca!
There’s a beautiful, new tahona on-site, although it hasn’t been initiated yet. In the meantime, there is a nice, big shredder for crushing the roasted agaves. It gives rise to the question: which is better?
My original take was that, in considering how unbelievably labor-intensive machacado a mano (crushing by hand) and even using the tahona can be, the shredder seemed like a modern innovation that shouldn’t necessarily harm the quality of artesanal mezcal production. I recall asking Hermogenes Vásquez García about this when I first met him years ago, discovering that he’d been using a shredder since 2010.
“Can you tell the difference?” I asked.
”Si,” he replied.
But on inquiring further, my Spanish—even poorer than it is now—just couldn’t grasp his follow up comments. 😕
Jesus Jimenez, whom I met at Quiote Mezcaleria in Oaxaca, is a tahona fan. He’s also maestro mezcalero at his own palenque in Santiago Matatlán, making Mezcal Cariño Mio, and was using a shredder in February. But he definitely believed a tahona would be superior—and was saving for one. My memory is that he said the degree to which the agave pulp was smashed by that heavy stone accomplished something a shredder just couldn’t. I think Alex indicated the same thing when we were there. So he’ll move onto the tahona in good time.
With cooler temperatures in our area, what’s a mezcalero to do to hasten fermentation? Here’s something else I never really thought about. Alex has fermenters indoors, but indoors doesn’t necessarily mean warmer. In fact, he’s put in a medium sized sort of greenhouse behind the building, and placed fermenters in there. And walking in, it was obvious: magnification of the sun’s rays makes it good and toasty inside, which is a no brainer for an improved fermentation environment.
One thing I’ve never seen in Oaxaca? An agave press. What’s that? Well, you see, the agaves common to our region are known for their generally low sugar content. That means you need a LOT more piñas to make a liter of mezcal, and as you can imagine, it means you’d better get every flippin’ drop of juice out of those suckers in order to maximize yield!
So, after fermentation, they plop all the agave chunks into this press and squeeze the living hell out of ‘em! It’s Good to the Last Drop, you know!
As for the still, here again I have never seen anything like it. Of course I still have a lot to learn about distillation, but obviously Alex has made a deep study of it. I won’t attempt to convey everything he explained that day, as I guarantee I’ll miss something, but just take a look at that puppy.
One thing you can imagine an environmentally conscious guy like Alex Vasconcelos would do is replace firing the still by burning wood—not nearly as plentiful in our area as in others—with propane heat, an inexpensive and clean burning fuel as fuels go. And this makes perfect sense to me, when you consider the importance of maintaining a consistent temperature for the distillation.
He has another, smaller still nearby. When asked what that one was for, a smile stretched across his face. “For experiments!” he replied. 🤓
On the other side of the building is Noble Indulto’s beautiful bar! This day Alex had a couple of things for us to try and buy. First was his soft-but-delicious Salmiana Salmiana. I grabbed a bottle of that myself. And next was a Destilado de Pulque.
No matter how hard I try, there’s no denying that I’m a mezcal snob. I don’t want to be, but it’s hard! However, the more one listens to real world stories, the more one is persuaded to climb down from that mezcal ivory tower. And perhaps entertain something like distilled pulque.
As Alex explains, with temperatures being lower here in our mountain state, there are really only about 3 months in which he can make mezcal. So what is he supposed to do for the other 9 months? Sit around, whittling little men outta wood?
Since the cooler temperatures pose problems for both roasting and fermenting—but not for indoor distillation, why not distill some pulque? My Mezcal Maniac friend Alex Brotherbees mentioned how he was on a camping trip recently with a spirit he wasn’t initially fond of, but by the end of the trip? “You know it kinda grew on me!” And as I sipped the distilled pulque, I decided I too could learn to like it.
Yes, it was sweet, but with a substantial counterbalancing bite that reminded me somewhat of the port wine I discovered many years ago. I decided to like it!
It was a really lovely time at Noble Indulto and Biosfera Farms. But we weren’t finished on this Saturday, as we made our way to Mineral de Pozos and yet another mezcal destileria afterward. I’ll write about that one soon.
See? Now you have at least two good reasons to visit San Miguel de Allende: a tasting at my house AND a visit to Noble Indulto! Okay, okay…there are millions more reasons, but if you’re a fellow Mezcal Maniac, now you have two more! Send me a message if you’re coming.
Nice. Love the experimentation with the process and another place I'd like to visit.