Take Me to the Source: Gin Mezcal in Matatlan, Oaxaca
Last Thursday was pretty depressing. Not because of Oaxaca safety concerns or traffic or the zocalo encamped by teachers. I got around Oaxaca easily by foot last week. I was depressed because when I got to La Mezcalillera, the purveyor of artesanal mezcal on Calle Murguia in the historic center of Oaxaca in the early […]
Five Generations of Mezcal Making in Oaxaca
Santiago Matatlan is lined with neat rows of carefully tended agave. They stipple the hilly, fertile fields. The climate is hot and dry, perfect for growing the succulent. Small, artesanal distilleries process the piña (the pineapple or root) of the agave into this stunning liquor. Here, Juan Carlos Mendez Zamora and his brother Raul Mendez Zamora (below, left) […]
King of Mezcals: El Cortijo’s Pechuga de Pollo
You be the judge! Is Pechuga de Pollo (breast of the chicken) distilled by El Cortijo in Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca, the best of the best? At 1,500 pesos (that’s $118 USD at today’s 12.65 exchange rate) for a 750 ml bottle in fine Mexican restaurants and far more in the U.S.A. (so I’m told by my in-the-know brother-in-law), […]
Oaxaca Community Museums Are Source of Pride, Attempt to Stem Tide of Outmigration
My friend Bruce lives in Baja, California (Mexico). We are carrying on a correspondence about safety, Oaxaca sights and sounds, and life as gringos in Mexico. He recently sent me the article written below and asked me to comment on it. Here is what I wrote back to him: “Thank you for sending me the […]