Becoming a Master or Expert in Mezcal and other Agave Distillates

Alvin Starkman M.A., J.D.

In May, 2025, I read a discussion on a popular agave distillate Facebook page, which began with the following post:

How much time does one have to study Tequila/Mezcal to be considered a “master” or “expert”

At first blush I considered posting a reply on that page, along with all the others who felt compelled to answer the question. In many cases I couldn’t figure out if those responding to the question were joking, or if they were serious with their vast array of differing opinions. But then I realized that to give justice to answering the question in a serious manner would take up an inordinate amount of space. Therefore, instead I decided upon this format.

To begin, I found the simple use of the word “master” to be both confusing and perhaps even inappropriate. “Expert” is a much easier term to both understand and upon which to opine.

Over the past decade, or perhaps even longer, various individuals and groups have begun to offer courses leading to an “expert” or “master” designation, both in the US and in parts of Mexico, ranging in duration from a week or so, to several weeks. The longer courses are most often not daily, but rather one day a week or month over a period of time. And, there are those which include days in the US together with requisite days of instruction and working out in the fields and at quaint Mexican distilleries, or palenques as they are most often termed here in the state of Oaxaca. And in at least one case, students are (or rather were at the time) required to spend several days in Mexico city, in the classroom, as part of the federal government’s CONOCER program. CONOCER provides instruction on how to teach and evaluate students in a large number of vocations, one of which has centered upon mezcal.

The course  which I took lead to me becoming a “Master Mezcalier,” and included the CONOCER program in Mexico City. At the time I took the course I had already been around the mezcal industry in Oaxaca, and to a much lesser extent in other states, for over two decades, learning from visiting perhaps the most rudimentary clay pot distilleries at one end of the spectrum, to likely the most sophisticated and industrialized facilities at the other. However one of the organizers of the program wanted me to teach the course, and required that I take it prior to beginning to teach it. I did learn a bit in the course of participating in the close-to-two-week experience, but it certainly, in my opinion, did not qualify me to become a master, maestro, or expert, despite having received that haughty designation as “Master Mezcalier.”.

Don’t get me wrong, such courses are valuable, but only to the extent that they enable the participant to scratch the surface. They do no more! Nor, I would suggest, and hope, are they expected to do more!

Then there are those who have written books about mezcal and other agave distillates. If the author resides in Mexico, and spends a year or two researching and writing, then arguably they could be deemed experts. But simply writing a book, and/or penning a series of articles and/or leading courses or discussion groups and tastings, does not necessarily lead to properly being able to call oneself an expert. In fact, I am aware of at least two authors who received publisher advances enabling them to come to Oaxaca for several months, then return home (to outside of Mexico), and attend to having their books published. They are neither masters nor experts! You have to live it, for a long time, to consider oneself an expert, and even then ….

Social anthropologists have also written books about mezcal. As a social anthropologist myself, and one who has conducted field research, to my thinking these individuals, along the continuum of expertise, fall more towards the positive end. However, the question then remains, have they lived in the state, and better yet the communities of which they write, and if so for how long. They may be excellent researchers, writers and students of culture, but those attributes in and of themselves do not mean that they are necessarily experts, once their projects have been completed. Do they return and follow up on their research which might have been completed several years ago? This becomes significant given the dramatic changes in the agave distillate industry over the past 15-20 years. To what extent have they kept up with the changes? Or, have they simply gone on to another completely different area of inquiry?

But don’t get me wrong, one need not have written anything about mezcal to perhaps be considered an expert.

There are roughly 26 states in Mexico which produce an agave distillate, nine or ten of which can legally call it mezcal if certain prerequisites are met (there is currently some dispute regarding a recently proposed addition). And there is a broad range of means of production and tools of the trade involved in their processes, ranging from the most rudimentary clay pot distillation methods, to the most highly industrialized facilities using diffusers and autoclaves, and everything in between. To what extent have these “experts” explored all of this, beyond reading? Must they have visited most of the states and explored how they make the spirit?

And what about bartenders, and those working in mezcaerlías? Even here in Oaxaca there are employees in some of the most renowned and highly respected mezcal bars and teaching rooms, whom I suspect consider themselves “experts,” yet have been known to spout misinformation (i.e. “only bad mezcal is used to produce añejo,” or “tobalá is a wild agave”).

Another category of person is someone who visits particular parts of Mexico, frequently, trying to expand their agave distillate knowledge. This is of course admirable. But still a decade of doing so does not make an expert. I have read online comments of such individuals, similarly with non-truths being stated as factually accurate. Even then, as David Byrne one stated, “facts just twist the truth around.”

Should the term “expert” be considered as falling along a continuum, with time studying agave distillates, mezcal in particular, being just one factor to consider? One might in fact develop a list of factors:

• Does the person live in a part of the country in which agave distillates are produced and if so for how long has the residence continued
• Has the person written about agave distillates, and if so to what extent
• Does the person have any academic qualifications related to the subject area
• What is the extent and quality of the relationships that the person has with distillers and their family members
• What is the diversity of the person’s agave distillate understanding in terms of the broad array of different means of production and tools of the trade throughout the country
• What is the principal motivation for the person’s past and present involvement with the industry
• And of course, one must consider “how much time,” as initially proposed

​The corollary of the foregoing is that 99% of distillers are not experts or masters, though yes maestros, as in being a Maestro Palenquero.

For me personally, though checking off most if not all of the boxes suggested in the foregoing, I can state no more than to consider myself, an authority in training.

Alvin Starkman operates the first ever federally authorized mezcal tour company, www.mezcaleducationaltours.com. He has been a permanent resident of the city of Oaxaca for over two decades, and for several years previously, a frequent visitor.