Serge+ » 26 июл 2009, 14:21
Еще немного про мескаль -
"Mezcal (or mescal) is a distilled drink made from the heart of the Century Plant, a member of the agave family. The drink is distilled twice, making a potent alcoholic beverage. The best known form of mescal is tequila.
The word Mezcal comes from Metl or Mexcalmetl, the prehispanic Nahuatl language, meaning Agave. Today the commonly used word for Agave in Oaxaca is Maguey. The Spanish were introduced to the art of distillation by the Moors in 800 A.D., and they brought the technology with them when Cortez landed in 1519. It was a short time before the indigenous peoples began to use their native maguey for producing mezcal. The magueys existing in the state of Oaxaca vary from the giant pulque maguey (Salmiana), maguey silvestre (wild), maguey tobala (the tiny, extremely itchy wild mountain variety that produces an excellent rare mezcal), maguey espadin (sword, the most commonly used and the genetic mother of the Blue Agave), tepestate (horizontal), larga (long), papalometl (agave cupreata another wild variety), arroqueno, to a larger variety of maguey azul.
The Agave is not a cactus. It was once classified in the same family with Lilys and Aloes. Today it is classified in its own family, Agavaceae, which consists of more than 400 species.
The one consistency is that almost every village, town and region has its producers of local mezcal. The plants are propagated by almost everyone in small village garden plots until they are about two years old and roughly two feet tall. At this time, they are uprooted, their leaves are tightly bound and the roots are cut off. They are left in the shade to heal for about fifteen days. Next they are transported to the outlying hills where they are transplanted and left to grow as fence borders for mountain fields. After another four to ten years, they are harvested and sold as a cash crop to local distillers. All they want is to be weeded three time a year until maturity.
The pinas are placed in a rock-lined conical pit (palenque) about twelve feet in diameter and about eight feet deep. They are laid over many hot rocks that have been piled and heated for four hours over an intense oak fire. A layer of the previously used moist fiber from the plant covers them, followed by (in some villages banana leaves), woven palm-fiber mats (petate) and finally a layer of earth. They bake this way for three to five days, absorbing flavors from the earth and wood smoke and oils on the rocks. Our Producer of Tobala leaves the roast hearts buried for a month!
The pinas are removed and rested covered by palm mats in the shade for a week where they begin to ferment naturally with airborne microbes, then placed on the ground inside a ring of stone or concrete about twelve feet in diameter. In the center is a vertical post connecting an axle to a huge vertical circular millstone. This stone wheel is pulled around and around the circle by horse to crush the maguey. In the case of Minero the maguey is ground by men wielding oak bats in a stone trough.
The crushed maguey is then placed in wooden vats that hold about three hundred gallons and about 10% village water is added (the only component other than roast maguey in our Mezcal). The mash (tepache) is covered with palm-fiber mats and ferments naturally with its own yeasts and microbes that live at the specific altitude of the village for four to thirty days.
The mezcal solids and liquid (tepache) are then transferred to a copper or ceramic (de olla) still which holds about twenty-five gallons. A copper "sombrero" is placed on top and the mix is slowly heated by wood fire, vaporized and condensed. Each distillation takes about twenty four hours so as to not "burn" the flavor. The fiber is cleared out of the still and the "punta" the clear alcohol from the first distillation is placed back in the still and the distillation process is repeated. The resultant liquid is mezcal.
There exist other even more rare mezcals produced in tiny quantities in remote villages such as Tobala™ and Pechuga™. They are difficult to produce and even more difficult to obtain! Del Maguey now brings them to the marketplace for your enjoyment being sure to not consume the village's share.
There is a high reverence for this magical liquid and its ceremonial, social and medicinal uses among the villagers. There is obvious pride regarding the mezcal's power. There is also great disdain for the "cheap," diluted, chemically altered liquid sold commercially.
The way mezcal affects one's palate and the way it warms the chest, throat and mouth are quite different than any other alcohol. And Del Maguey mezcals transcend all others.".