Pop-Up Mezcal Fest in Queretaro
Lots of Mezcal Producers Come to Within a One Hour Drive of my House! 😲
I didn’t notice the event notification about the Pop-Up Mezcal Fest until around 4 days before it was happening practically next door to us in Queretaro. I posted a message about it to our local Friday Mezcal Meetup folks here in San Miguel de Allende, but it might have been a little late. So it would be Cecilia and I on Saturday, with Barb and Fred joining on Sunday.
Cecilia booked a great hotel room only a seven minute walk from where the event was being held: the Hotel Casona Misiones right there in centro. It wasn’t starting till noon, so we took it easy Saturday morning: leisurely breakfast, plus I had a couple of voiceovers to record… Then we hit the road for the brief, one-hour drive.
More than 8 years ago, Cecilia and I stayed the night in Queretaro. The 2020 census shows the metro area’s population to be about 1.6 million, with centro being about half that. There’s a TON to do. I remember thinking about what a great downtown it was, and how we’d surely come often.
And we just didn’t! No real excuses, but those of us who love San Miguel de Allende… Well, a lot of us tend to stay in San Miguel de Allende. So this was a spectacular reason to go hang out in another great city.
At one point I noticed the event organizer, Erika Padilla, had posted that 23 different producers would be attending, but it’s possible there were a few more entries at the last minute. Later I’d remark to Fred Collins how this was little different from heading into the palenques: at the beginning of the day, I was taking notes like crazy. But after several samples? Not so much—and I definitely didn’t feel like counting ‘em all.
The first table I stopped by was that of Tierra Viviente Mezcal Artesanal from Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca. Owners Laura Hernández and Zabdi Porras were not holding court at that moment, but their representative, Inga from Russia, helped me through all the good stuff. While there were plenty of enjoyable distillations, I especially liked their Mexicano!
Another table with lots of stuff to offer was Eliud Meza’s Mezcal El Habito, also of Oaxaca. Eliud was both quite friendly—and serious about explaining the mezcales he was featuring. Although I’m not a big flavored mezcal fan, I had to admit his Abocado con Frutas was delicious.
I’ve made no secret of my love for Oaxaca. So I can openly confess I feel a little guilty that I don’t spend as much time with the mezcales of my home state, Guanajuato. That said, I may have spent more time with them at this festival than any other vendors. I’d seen Mezcal Cuanax several times for years around San Miguel, but I don’t recall having met Maestro Mezcalero Juan Antonio Castellanos Cardona previously.
He’s based in Mineral de Pozos, which happens to be one of Cecilia’s and my favorite weekend getaways. Small and quiet, once someone remarked that there’s “nothing to do there.” Cecilia’s reply: “Exacto!” 😆 The truth is we enjoy our time there a lot and find whatever we need, but normally meet with friends and just chill. However for my next trip I’ll definitely plan to meet with Juan Antonio at his mezcalera if he’s available.
Most producers in Guanajuato focus on the two primary varieties of the Salmiana family: Salmiana Salmiana and Salmiana Crassispina. For the first few years I only found what in my opinion was horrible Salmianas. So often that I came to think it was all pretty bad. Not so, my friends; not so. El maestro poured me a few of his Salmianas that were all good, but the one he sold me on was an ensamble of both the Salmianas and a certain Americana common to our area. Some locally call it Cenizo, but I always wince at that since it would be easy to confuse it with the Cenizo Durangensis common to Durango. So an alternative I’ve been using lately is another moniker for it: Blanco.
The only producer I’d been aware of previously who’s made a Cenizo/Blanco mezcal is Marcelo Castro Vera of Mezcal Penca y Piedra of San Felipe. It’s been awhile, but once I recall it being very, very nice. So it’s good to see Juan Antonio is including it in the aforementioned ensamble. I also think his allowing the grado to slip up to 46% made it my favorite of his offerings that day.
If you bump into Juan Antonio somewhere, definitely engage with him. He’s quite enthusiastic and likes to joke around a bit. This was especially the case on Sunday when he admitted to having started on the mezcal samples at around 10 AM. 😂
At the risk of irritating all you lovers of clay-distilled mezcal, I’ll repeat that I continue to be somewhat challenged to love them. There are exceptions, yes. But the thing I noticed on a trip to Santa Catarina Minas in particular, but also to Sola de Vega, is that—unlike the earliest barro distillations I had—it almost seemed as if someone was sprinkling in a little extra clay there, as with every sip I found it a challenge to taste the distillate through the mud. I know many cringe at this, but all I have are my opinions. 🤷♂️
Nevertheless there was a fantastic entry into the Pop-Up Mezcal Fest based, uh huh, in Sola de Vega, Oaxaca, that was all barro and all good in my book: Sambarrumberos Mezcal Ancestral. The Jabalí, the Tobalá, the Coyote were kick-ass—with a clay essence that was not overwhelming. But I’m now kicking myself, because I sincerely wanted to return to them Sunday for a really nice ensamble of Coyote, Mexicano, Jabalí, Barril and Cuixe, and only now realize it slipped my mind. 😟 Zuriel and Claudia represented the brand well, and I’m certainly planning to make them a stop on my next visit to SDV.
Okay, I’m not proud of it, but…I don’t remember much about some of the tables at which I stopped. With some of them, I can do a little Googling to jar my memory, but try as I might I find no online presence whatsoever for Huexolotl Mezcal Artesanal. I think they were from Guerrero, but am not 100% on that. Yet the hombres in black and cowboy hats were awfully nice and treated me to some decent stuff; so…there’s a photo!
Next up, the A La Mala Mezcal table was manned…🧐…(wo-manned?)…by three very nice ladies: Beatriz, Monica and Fanny. Their brand is based in Oaxaca and spotlights mezcales made by female producers only. In this case too I’m searching the internet for some of the holes in my memory. I definitely recall some of their distillations were made by Berta Vásquez. I’ve heard so many rave reviews about Berta’s offerings, I feel confident they’re right up my shelf! We tried a couple on Saturday that were perfectly lovely. I’ve still never been to San Baltazar Chichicapam, where she produces, but it’s near the top of my list.
Alejandro González Anaya is the expert I’ve turned to for a few years in identifying specific agaves common to our state of Guanajuato. He is the maestro of Hacienda Vergel de Guadalupe based in San Luis de la Paz, not far from me, and he makes some of the finest Salmiana distillations I’ve ever had.
Can we talk?
I’m guessing if I were a producer of mezcal in this region, it might be frustrating that Salmianas just don’t provide a high yield; so the kilos of piña required to make a liter are (I believe) some of the highest in the universe of mezcal. More piñas would logically mean a higher cost for the finished product. Given this, I guess there must be pressure to keep the grado (ABV) low, in order not to make the final product even more expensive. Therefore, competing with the Espadíns and other agaves that kick out LOTS of that fermentable juice must be a challenge, and it stands to reason the task of doing Salmiana WELL is extra challenging.
The thing that surprised me this year was that Alejandro had examples of his Salmianas in the 52% to 54% range! Magnifico! Additionally, I’ve been lucky enough—2 years in a row—to acquire a bottle of Tequilero from him. He makes very, very limited productions of this; I believe he told me he only had about 12 piñas, so very few bottles are available. But they’re really nice. I’ll take this delicious, artesanally made Tequilero over the vast majority of industrial tequilas any day. And, although I enjoyed those Salmianas immensely, there’s something else Alejandro does very well: Mapisaga. Another rarely found distillation, I think, but I’m told this agave endemic to our region is also commonly used to make pulque. It’s true this Mapisaga is slightly sweet, but that may be why I like it so much. Super stuff!
I hereby vow that, before my next trip to Oaxaca, I’m going to make it a point to go visit the other mezcal producers right here in my state. Only makes sense. Then I’ll share the experience here at Mezcal Maniac.
But Cecilia and I are also talking about a trip to Michoacán—maybe later this Fall. I’ve had so much great stuff from that state, there’s no excuse. And we were delighted to find Gerardo and Adriana from Punta Cobre Mezcal, producing out of that state. Being from Michoacán, they offer Inaequidens, but another I’d never heard of before called Cuijillo. Unfortunately they’d just distilled that one, so it wasn’t ready to bring for the event. But, buddy, did they have a charming, little ensamble of Cupreata and an Americana, the latter apparently what in Oaxaca they call Pulquero. In fact Cecilia and I were sipping it just last night. It reminded us of the earthy sotoles we sometimes get from Chihuahua. Very flavorful stuff!
If you make the rounds in the mezcal world in Oaxaca, it isn’t long before you bump into the family members of mezcaleros you know. That actually happened while at more than one table last weekend. The first being the cousin of Omar García who makes some lovely distillations—including an elegant Sacatoro—from his operation in Apango, Guerrero.
Also, I’ve written extensively about one of my favorite maestros, Placido Hernández Hernández of San Franciso Lachigoló. I’ve gone to see him several times, and have recommended you do too. In addition to making some of the best mezcal you’ll find, he also creates an inviting atmosphere, often playing his guitar and singing while we enjoy. I don’t recall exactly how his name came up while talking to a certain gentleman at this event, but he chuckled and said, “Es mi primo (cousin)!” What?! So it was an opportunity to send a photo and chat a bit with Placido.
Question for you… Does wanting to applaud all the aforementioned vendors at this event mean I can’t name a favorite? I’m thinking that’s just no way to live, is it? But there was one entry into the Pop-Up Mezcal Festival last weekend that really knocked me out: Shamia Mezcal from that standard-bearing region of mezcal production: San Dionisio Ocotepec.
Rigoberto García was the family representative, along with young Angel—who it turns out is close friends with the lovely, young maestra also from SDO: Adela de Carmen Cruz Antonio. I wrote about her story and my visit last year here. The Tepextate was a definitive example of that distillation: green, herbaceous, full…SI! They also had an ensamble of nine different agaves; so many they chose not to name them all on the label, but after 3 or so…who cares! It was fantastic. However, the one that rocked my world was their Bicuixe, which was a Gran Oro (Gold) Medal winner in a major competition this year.
Fred Collins has claimed he doesn’t like Bicuixe, but I want to take personal responsibility for that. About 7 years ago I got another fabulous Bicuixe—this one from Hermogenes Vásquz García. I hadn’t put it in bottles yet, so Cecilia and I were just turkey-basting it into our veladoras on weekends. Then, to my shock, one weekend when I walked into what used to be my mezcal room…the top to the garrafon was off! 😧 And it was off for quite awhile! 😩 After that it was just kind of sour, you know? But I bottled it anyway, and gave some of my friends the chance to try it. In fact, since I felt weird pawning it off on people, I’ve brought it out here and there over the years—somehow hoping it would improve. 😕 I contend THAT is why Fred, to this day, says he doesn’t like it. So I challenged him to sip this one, and sure enough: he dug it.
The Bicuixe was made by Clemencio Cortés, and the Tepextate and Ensamble by Crispín García Méndez, who I believe is Rigoberto’s father. Just try to stop me from visiting these folks next time I’m in Oaxaca!
Did I mention what a cool city Queretaro is? It’s funny: sipping mezcal and walking around a good-sized Mexican centro area, a couple of times I forgot I wasn’t in Oaxaca. Cecilia had chosen our restaurant on Saturday night: Sayil Centro, which offers a contemporary approach to the exotic Yucatán cuisine. The good news: I’m totally comfortable asking my Mexicana wife to order for me, as I’m not as familiar with Yucatán cuisine as she. The bad news: since she ordered, I can’t really remember what I ate. But it was glorious!
Cecilia’s 23 year old son, Tonio, now lives in Queretaro. A fluent Japanese speaker, he works as a translator and manager at a Japanese company based there. So, since we were in town, he joined us for the food and live music. It was good to see him.
On the brief walk back to our hotel, we snapped up some churros as a dessert. I got mine infused with caramel!
So it was a hell of a time for us, and it didn’t take any major planning or long voyages. I’m not sure if Erika Padilla is involved with more events like this one, but I intend to find out—and get on her email list.
As ever, if you’re in the area, send me a message. It won’t take any convincing to find an excuse to meet you for mezcal. Salud!
Mezcal festivals that big can be tough, my taste buds burn out too quick! 😂
Next time I go to San Miguel de Allende I will definitely look you up and maybe we can go out to see some of these producers firsthand! I didn’t think much of Guanajuato producers before this year, when I had what has been my favorite Mezcal of the year so far from Pedro Valdes in San Felipe Guanajuato. A Salmiana at 60% ABV, it’s incredible!!!!