Alex Engel is a funny guy. Funny ha ha or funny different? you ask.
Yes.
Born in Mexico City to an American father and German mother, his family background and international past means he might not fit into some of the boxes you’d expect.
At nine Alex moved to New York, later went to university, completed a bachelor’s degree in TV & Radio production, and spent an intensive year in The Victorian University Film program in Melbourne. Since then he’s directed countless national and viral campaigns, promos, documentaries and music videos for various international and New York based recording artists.
He’s also become one of my best friends in the last few years.
“Will you take me to Oaxaca sometime?” he asked a while back over tacos and beers in centro.
I was a little surprised; just didn’t see it as his sort of thing. But I told him I’d be happy to show him around the palenques. When he then mentioned he might like to make a mini documentary about the experience, I became geeked. (The full video is at the end of this article.)
So we went.
What Was the Point?
This question isn’t as easy to answer as you might think. My friend Steve didn’t know we’d been working on this; so after finding out recently he asked with some astonishment, “You made a movie???” It made me think I’d better be able to explain why.
I suppose the larger question is, what am I doing with this whole mezcal obsession in the first place? Voiceovers are my career; am I thinking of making a transition of some sort?
As fun as something like that sounds…no. Only because I can’t imagine how that would work.
The simple answer is I finally found a hobby that’s so enjoyable I just want to do stuff like this: tastings, adventures and, yes, even a damn documentary!
But back to the story.
First Up: Centro!
We touched down in Oaxaca on April 22nd, two days after my 56th birthday. My idea of a birthday trip! We got settled in our hotel in centro, and stepped out the front door to explore on foot.
Very close by was El Cortijo Mezcaleria, where bartender Gabi set us up with some very special distillations. Next we had dinner at Zandunga, one of the longtime spots in centro for authentic Oaxacan fare. There was a cigar and a mezcal atop the terraza at La Mezcalerita—and of course my favorite, La Popular!
Then the Palenques
Again, at the end of this article I’m going to post the full video of “Mezcal Hunt: In Search of Oaxacan Treasure.” So I don’t need to detail everything here. But over the next three days we visited the palenques of the following maestros:
-Placido Hernández Hernández, “Espina Dorada,” San Francisco Lachigoló
-Miguel Garcia, San Dionisio Ocotepec
-Daniel & Cosme Hernández, San Baltazar Guelavila
-Salamón Salvador Cruz, San Baltazar Guelavila
-Hermogenes Vásquez García, Paula Aquino Sánchez & son Jorge, Logoche
-Ramón García Sánchez, Logoche
-Don Tomás García Cruz & sons Nicolás, Juan & Eliazar, Logoche
-Jose Manuel Méndez, San Dionisio Ocotepec
-Adela del Carmen Cruz Antonio, San Dionisio Ocotepec
I’d made appointments with all of them except for Miguel García. In his case we noticed he was just starting a cook and asked permission to shoot it—as well as the palenque. I was surprised to hear he was the son of Gelacio García Cruz and brother of Ulises. I’d been to visit them previously, but they weren’t able to connect with us on this trip.
There was more getting lost in centro in the evenings, along with more food and mezcal. It was great to get the same roadside empanadas I’d had on my first trip to Oaxaca years ago.
But you’ve read about most of this stuff before; so let’s get to the point of this article.
Mezcal Hunt: In Search of Oaxacan Treasure
At first Alex said this might be 10 or 15 minutes. Sounded good to me. But he got a lot of good video. So after many months of going over it—both he and I busy with our lives—it was finally finished a couple of weeks ago.
At fifty minutes!
We had a screening at a local place, Mezcal-Art, this past Saturday night, and let me tell you: I was thoroughly prepared that no one might really be paying attention. But I’ll be damned: they were! It was received very well.
Are there things I’d like to have done differently? Of course. I wish I’d thought to bring an extra mic so that we could focus a bit more on the stars here: the maestros. I was able to futz with the audio a bit to bring some of their comments up a good amount, but I’d have liked more. I wish I hadn’t said “ta-hone” when I meant “tahona” in one place, and wish I’d have mixed up the various descriptors better when tasting distillations. Other stuff too. But all that said, I’m pretty damn happy with it.
And I have the expertise and ambition of Alex Engel to thank for it!
And now I happily bring to you, “Mezcal Hunt: In Search of Oaxacan Treasure!”
Thanks for watching!