Open-Air Mezcal Immersion in Miahuatlan

We will meet at Tlayudona, at 210C M. Bravo Street, inside the San Cristobal Plaza at 8:00 a.m., where you can have some local coffee before we head out.

We will arrive at the palenque at approximately 10:30 a.m., where the maestro distiller and his wife will receive us with an almuerzo/typical Mexican-style brunch.

Then they will walk us through the distillation process, from start to finish, taking us on a sensorial journey from plant to bottle. Their magueys will be in various stages of the distillation process, so you will get to experience this process in real time. This particular maestro has become a coveted distiller and exports to several upcoming brands internationally, as the industry is recently burgeoning. He experiments with some new technology, but opts to sustain many of the ancestral traditions behind mezcal distillation because he prizes the flavor of an ideal young, ancestral, wild (silvestre) mezcal. Accordingly, he adopts to reject some of the advances that have favored efficiency over preserving this unique palate.

Our host will talk to us extensively about the process, the industry, and the culture surrounding mezcal. Depending on the spirit and the mobility of the group, we are able to venture into the fields where the agaves grow, to see the various plant varieties. (Please bring hats and sunscreen, as well as comfortable shoes for walking in the fields if you opt to do so.)

We will sit down again for a traditional Mexican lunch, prepared by the matriarch of the household so that our stomachs are full and ready for a tasting. Then we will taste the different mezcals that they have on hand, so that you can begin to distinguish the breadth of flavors that come from different wild agave varieties. You will have the opportunity to purchase mezcal from the family if you’d like.

We will then head back to Oaxaca, returning approximately at 6:30 p.m.

1. Transportation to/from Oaxaca (2-6 people in a Toyota Avanza, Air-conditioning. 7+ people in a Toyota Sprinter)
2. Coffee & Sweet Bread
3. Bottled Water
4. Translation: Spanish/English
5. Typical Mexican brunch and Mexican lunch, Agua de sabor
6. Sensorial Journey through the mezcal distillation process
7. Optional venture to the agave fields
8. Mezcal tasting
9. The option to purchase mezcal directly from the maestro distiller

8 a.m. – approximately 6:30 p.m. (return time depends on various unpredictable factors, including traffic, so please take that into account if making a dinner reservation that evening).