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Mezcal
Outside of Mitla on the road to Oaxaca City are several roadside Mezcal factories. On our trip in the early fall of 2000, we stopped at one of these. The small establishment was called "Pegaso", and it put out mezcals under the labels of "Pegaso" and "Indio Mexicano".
Entering the shop, we were greeted by a young man who promptly began to give us a show-and-tell about the various types of Mezcal, from the rawer mountain species to the more palatable aged varieties and flavored "cremes" of Mezcal. He pulled out a couple of small, plastic cups and presented us with an array of samples, best of which (in my opinion) was the dark, aged, smooth mezcal and the easily imbibable cremes flavored with natural essences of orange, lemon, cacao and mint, though purists would probably scoff at my preference...
He then offered to show us through the factory, which wasn't producing at the moment and therefore was deserted. He started off the tour by pointing out the various maguey plants from which the spikes are cut. After harvesting, these pencas de maguey are placed in a pit with hot coals and left to burn over a period of some 72 hours. Once thoroughly charred, the pencas are removed from the pit and left to cool by the edge of the pit.
After cooling, the charred maguey is transported to a heavy mill-stone, where it is crushed and ground to extract the juices. These juices, together with the pulp, are removed to large wooden vats, where they are left to ferment. The mill-stone here at Pegaso was as primitive as they come, a huge wheel that is turned by means of a post that traverses the center of it and pushed or pulled around in a circle by brute force.
Once fermented, the liquid is drained off and double-distilled before finally being bottled.
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