Mezcal Immersion

a sensorial journey from plant to bottle

Overview of Experience

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.)

What to Expect

We leave from Tlayudona (100 Hidalgo) in Jalatlaco at 8 a.m., where we have fresh, local specialty coffee and sweet bread for those of you who like to start your day with a brew.

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.

We will sit down again for a traditional Mexican lunch, prepared by the matriarch of the household, Simiona, 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, but it is not obligatory, as they are well-paid for their time and the experience as part of Tlayudona´s business model.

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

Experience Includes

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