“Logoche is the shnizzle.” (And you can quote me on that.)
Almost a two and a half hour drive from Oaxaca City, things start looking surprisingly similar to the back roads of East Tawas, Michigan, my hometown. I mean, if you ignore all the agave fields.
But you couldn’t do that if you tried.
Our driver Ciro was there for us prior to 8, and all five of us packed the back of his 11 seater van with some used, empty garrafones we’d shipped there, hopped in and headed out. Fred had made us some sandwiches for the trip, which did the trick and didn’t slow us down.
Eventually the paved roads ended and the dirt roads commenced. There are brief periods when cell service slowed down or dropped out, but it always returned for us to check our location; plus it appears—if you have a spot locked in already—your phone will utilize GPS instead of the internet. Ciro had known of one shortcut we almost missed, but with a little help from locals we were back on track.
Hermogenes & Paula’s Palenque
Next thing you know we were pulling in to the palenque of Hermogenes Vásquez García and Paula Aquino Sánchez. But, as never before, there was a pretty big bunch of folks already there. As we approach, you can hear my contented sigh on the below video.
But what’s this? In addition to Mogen, Paula and their son Jorge, there are a bunch of other people there already enjoying themselves. Locals, other maestros and even some fellow Americans.
And we thought 10:45 AM might be too early to start drinking mezcal!
Among them was a couple who operate Almas Viejas, which they describe as “Culturally driven immersive experiences in Oaxaca.” Carmen is a native Oaxacan from nearby Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz who’s also involved in Maestros del Mezcal and Mezcaloteca, the fabulous tasting room. Tony, an American, used to manage Palenque Mezcaleria in Denver. On a visit to Oaxaca in 2018 he met Carmen, and it appears that was all she wrote. Among other things, they have walking tours, regional day trips, private culinary events, and guided mezcal tastings, all spotlighting Oaxacan culture.
But let’s get on to the tasting, shall we?
As we move through my series on this year’s trip, you’ll find hints as to how things just went too far. 🤣 But at this, our first palenque, it hadn’t yet occurred to me. So let’s just enjoy, huh? These were the distillations Mogen and Paula let us try…
Tobalá
Cabo Maguey Capón de Madrecuixe (This was something I’d never heard of: mezcal made—not from the agave piña—but instead out of the bottom few inches of the pencas, those spiky agave “leaves,” just above where they meet the piña.)
Espadín Capón (Fred and I soon realized we needed a lot of this.)
Jabalí/Madrecuixe (This is the 3rd version of this I’ve tried in the last 4 years and is becoming one to watch for each year.)
Tepextate
Pulquero/Arroqueño Ensamble (This one struck Fred as a must-have.)
Cucharillo/Cuixe (I can’t tell whether this one is as good or even better than last year’s version. Remarkably different and delicious.)
Pulquero/Sierra Negra/Tobalá Ensamble
Cuixe Verde (We saw a bit of this around Logoche this year. Paula told me that straight Cuixe were smaller plants, normally found way out in the campo, Bicuixe were much the same—but a bit larger, and the rarer Cuixe Verde are a bit taller, generally larger and greener. They only find hijuelos (agave pups or clones) to make this distillation—as opposed to first generation plants from seed.)
Pulquero Verde/Tepextate Ensamble (I especially love this one. Paula said this was actually made by Miguel García Jarqín, a maestro who is married to their daughter.)
Bicuixe
Tobalá/Bicuixe
Point of fact: there was not a single distillation I thought wasn’t perfect. But the sad lesson I’ve learned: you just can’t buy all the mezcal, damnit! 🙁 So I had to summon all my powers of drunken concentration and let the spirit of two women: Mayahuel the Goddess of Agave and my wife Cecilia, guide me. I chose Mogen’s Espadín Capón and his Cabo, Paula’s Cucharillo/Cuixe and Miguel’s Pulquero Verde/Tepextate Ensamble.
We’ve always known that Paula is a full-on partner in this palenque, but this time she made it a point to identify which were made by her, which by Mogen—and which were collaborations between them. Their work individually is spectacular, and together? What a team!
Yes, there were 12 mezcales tasted. As one who probably puts on some 15 tastings myself each year, twelve isn’t a scary number. But when one realizes one has two more palenques to go to that very day? And a few more the next day? One might begin to re-think one’s plan. Yes, one might. Just not this one. Such a realization would take me longer.
There was plenty of water, plenty of roasted pumpkin seeds and plenty of good conversation to go along with mezcal. But the palenque of Don Tomás García Cruz was next—and his son Nicolás had messaged that they’d be having carne asada for us for lunch. As it was about 2pm, we thought we’d better get the garrafones in the van and move on down the road.
Don Tomás García Cruz
All of my previous visits to Mogen & Paula’s have been followed by visits to Don Tomás’, and I saw no reason to break with tradition. (Especially since they’d kindly offered lunch—and it was lunchtime.)
Not only has Don Tomás, age 73, received the “Tesoro (Treasure) Cultural del Mezcal” for his the many years he’s devoted to it, but we noticed he’d also won a Craft Spirits Berlin Award in 2021 for a Tobasiche he made.
I thought I’d take care of Nicolas’ knife first. Last year on our visit, he’d placed a certain jack knife in front of me, asking if I thought I could find another just like it. A certain man had traded it to him for some mezcal, and he really liked it for some reason about which I didn’t then inquire. Just as I enjoy hunting for mezcal, I also like challenges like this. So I took photos of it.
When getting home last year, I called the Camillus Knife Company. Founded in 1876 in New York, it’s one of the oldest knife manufacturers in the US. I sent the phone representative the photos I’d taken, asking how I might find one. His reply? “Hooo! No wonder he likes this one. This was the official Boy Scouts of America knife, a real classic.” He explained that, while the Camillus company did make that knife for decades, the current company had bought the original one out, and they no longer made it. I acknowledged, only asking what they had that was somewhat like it.
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” came the response. Obviously I know diddly about knives because I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t even try to sell me. He suggested I try eBay, and I did. After months, eventually I found it, but it wasn’t easy to win one of those auctions. So when I handed it to Nicolás I asked what was so special about it. Among other things, it had to do with how it can be well sharpened, unlike other knives. A higher grade of steel? My wife told me how our handyman says the same thing about lower-quality machetes.
Okay; enough about knives. Here’s what we tasted:
Espadín Capón
Barril
Cuixe Verde/Tobalá Ensamble
5 Añero (This took awhile to understand, but we were told there was a certain agave of the Americana family that only takes about 5 years to mature. [CEEN-coh-ah-NYAIR-oh].)
Coyote Karwinskii Sylvestre
Tobasiche
Tepextate/Bicuixe
Tepextate
Espadín/Madrecuixe Ensamble (Don Tomás’ fave of the day.)
Madrecuixe
Tobalá
Mexicanito
Bicuixe
In the last year I’ve had a bad period of picking uninspiring Tepextates, getting home and asking, “What was I thinking?” But here we had a first-rate Tep, and I needed it and the Cuixe/Tobalá Ensamble. Fred was snapping up almost everything in sight, but I realized I wouldn’t get through this trip to Logoche without watching mi dinero. So I asked Nicolás if, like in the past, I could buy some now—then, if he could ship later, I’d buy at least that Barril and Espadín/Madrecuixe—and possibly the Tobasiche. He was more than happy to oblige and we’ve already chatted about moving forward with that.
Last year this family made us lunch too, so we certainly weren’t expecting it this year before Nicolás told me. Among the maestro and his sons Nicolás, Eleazar and Juan there are always a good number of kids, but this year we met Tomás’ smiling wife Antonia. The huge tortillas were nice and substantial; I’d challenge you to make a carne asada/chorizo tlayuda from one and eat anything more.
There are a lot of things an American like me might be unfamiliar with here, but when that happens to my Mexicana wife it’s unusual. We noticed a certain tree nearby with many cottony tufts growing from it. They were calling it “pochotle,” but I’ve also found it spelled “pochote,” “pochotl” and also called a ceiba. They even brought us a seed pod so we could sample them; tasted a bit like corn. They also made a super delicious creamy salsa from those seeds.
So if you’re keeping count, it was 12 distillations at Mogen & Paula’s and 13 at Don Tomás’. If there were any concerns at that point I wasn’t in touch with them. Plus the food was helping us, right?
When I first visited Mogen several years ago he’d told me he hadn’t actually used a tahona, (the crushing pit in which a horse pulls a stone wheel over roasted agaves), since around 2010. And even though I saw several tahonas in Logoche, I’m pretty sure each palenque had a chipper too. It could be that they’ve finally landed on what could be a way to ever-so-slightly reduce the labor that goes into this labor-intensive spirit. And I’ve never had better mezcal, so who could tell—and who might care?
Both Hermogenes and Don Tomás gave me essentially the same answer about how they know when the agaves are finished roasting in the ground, but I think I’ll devote an entire article to that and other peripheral items.
At this point it was getting late and Celso’s daughter Gloria was messaging to make sure we were still coming. We were! About that next from Mezcal Maniac.