Oaxaca Mezcal Tours is Alvin Starkman, owner of “Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca.” He has no employees or partners. He is a mezcal specialist. That is all that he does. His associates are the artisanal producers he takes his clients to visit, to interact with, to learn from, and to photograph. When you commit to a day of learning, sampling and experiencing the real Oaxaca from the perspective of its rural, ethnically Zapotec inhabitants who produce mezcal, you should feel confident; confident that you’ll be spending your time with someone who has been both a visitor to and a resident of Oaxaca for the past quarter century. Indeed Alvin has spent 25 years cultivating relationships with palenqueros and their families, the past dozen as a permanent resident of the city, all the while increasing and improving his knowledge base.
Ethical Mezcal Tourism: Alvin Starkman believes in ethical tourism. What does he mean by this? Well, treating the producers of agave distillates and their family members fairly and with the utmost respect, never requesting or accepting a commission or any other benefit from the palenqueros in exchange for sales or bringing them prospective customers or exporters of their mezcal, typically providing snacks, toys or other types of modest gifts for the children of the distillers, making suggestions to the palenqueros about more efficient, environmentally sensitive production methods, and pricing if their price per liter appears too little, supporting assisting the palenqueros in determining what fair pricing consists of considering their costs of production, and so on.
There are very few mezcal experts around, and we should be cautious of those who consider themselves as such. Though many consider him an expert, Alvin considers himself merely an authority-in-training, despite having authored a book about mezcal (“Mezcal in the Global Spirits Market: Unrivalled Complexity, Innumerable Nuances”), written over 35 articles about the spirit, and co-authored the only quality, bilingual, full colour mezcal tasting wheel..He has also assisted social anthropologists in conducting their research on mezcal, crafts and tourism.
As a more general cautionary note, whether using Alvin's services, or those of others purporting to be licensed to teach about crafts, ruins, mezcal or other cultural aspects of the central valleys of Oaxaca, if you have any doubts whatsoever, request from the prospective service provider documentary evidence that the individual or company is duly licensed by the appropriate governmental branch.
Contact Alvin at oaxacamezcaltours at hotmail dot com to learn more about what he offers, testimonials, and cost.
Ethical Mezcal Tourism: Alvin Starkman believes in ethical tourism. What does he mean by this? Well, treating the producers of agave distillates and their family members fairly and with the utmost respect, never requesting or accepting a commission or any other benefit from the palenqueros in exchange for sales or bringing them prospective customers or exporters of their mezcal, typically providing snacks, toys or other types of modest gifts for the children of the distillers, making suggestions to the palenqueros about more efficient, environmentally sensitive production methods, and pricing if their price per liter appears too little, supporting assisting the palenqueros in determining what fair pricing consists of considering their costs of production, and so on.
There are very few mezcal experts around, and we should be cautious of those who consider themselves as such. Though many consider him an expert, Alvin considers himself merely an authority-in-training, despite having authored a book about mezcal (“Mezcal in the Global Spirits Market: Unrivalled Complexity, Innumerable Nuances”), written over 35 articles about the spirit, and co-authored the only quality, bilingual, full colour mezcal tasting wheel..He has also assisted social anthropologists in conducting their research on mezcal, crafts and tourism.
As a more general cautionary note, whether using Alvin's services, or those of others purporting to be licensed to teach about crafts, ruins, mezcal or other cultural aspects of the central valleys of Oaxaca, if you have any doubts whatsoever, request from the prospective service provider documentary evidence that the individual or company is duly licensed by the appropriate governmental branch.
Contact Alvin at oaxacamezcaltours at hotmail dot com to learn more about what he offers, testimonials, and cost.
