Enjoying sampling mezcal from a gourd or jícara at the home of one of our favourite artisanal distillers.
Watching a master distiller and his son crushing baked agave the ancestral way.
Destination Wedding: Teaching a Seattle bar manager, his bride and their guests at the Mezcal Koch palenque, San Baltazar Guelavila.
Clients helping a palenquero and his family fill a traditional oven with agave piñas.
Out in the fields photographing the majestic Agave americana americana prior to extracting aguamiel which ferments into pulque.
"Well" in the middle Agave americana americana (pulquero) filled with sweet honey water or aguamiel, just prior to extraction.
Watching a palenquero crush his Agave angustifolia Haw (espadín) the traditional way with beast of burden and tahona; a classic and common occurrence.
Client watching palenquero fill his still with the tepache (fermented liquid and fibre).
Hiking in search of one of the less common agaves used to make mezcal, jabalí.
Mezcal aficionados sitting down to the fruits of their labour after a Oaxacan mezcal cooking class.
After cutting agave piñas, loading them into the truck for transport to the palenque.
Occasionally a "city slicker" wants to learn hands on: cutting baked agave with machete.
Drinking mezcal and eating tacos roadside in front of an artisanal distillery.
One of the few true female distillers, or palenqueras, holding court and explaining how she bakes her agave; her mezcal is highly coveted.
Barmen, cantina owners and bar women from Austin Texas sampling mezcal in a palenqero's home, San Baltazar Chichicapam.
It can't get more real; sampling aguamiel in the fields immediately after tapping an agave.
Learning how to tell alcohol by volume (ABV) the traditional way, from an expert.
Exquisite field of espadín with corn and squash influencing growth (and ultimate mezcal flavour), somewhere near San Dionisio Ocotepec. Great photo op ... at least until harvesting is completed.
Some of the best rural feasting in the country, with mezcal and live music.
On a Oaxaca Mezcal Tour one never knows what will be encountered along the side of the road .... beast carrying piñas to the palenque.
Producers of fine hooch.
On several occasions we've worked with professional photographer Spike Mafford of Seattle.
Eating in rural Oaxaca in the middle of a mezcal excursion can't get much better.
We usually drink from a jícara, the best vessel for imbibing mezcal.
Learning to make Oaxacan chocolate by hand using a metate, while sipping on mezcal. Mezcalatte anyone?
And for something a little more unusual, a team of oxen crushing agave with the tahona.
Ending the day with a tasting at Mezcal Vago.
Palenquero Juan Ramírez holding court.
Sampling from the barrel with Santos Martínez.
Open air wild environmental yeast fermentation.
Sometimes our clients are content to chat up the palenqueros without my assistance, enabling me to relax; otherwise, it's all me explaining.
Filtering mezcal recently distilled, the old fashioned way.
Even Deadheads enjoy learning how to cook with mezcal, especially when the instructor is Chef Pilar Cabrera.
It's all a matter of timing; sometimes you even get to help palenqueros fill their ovens with agave.
Drinking between two palenqueros (Abel & Everardo).
Juana serving pulque to passersby at the Sunday Tlacolula market.
A classic and beautifully formed tobalá (Agave potatorum).
Spending the better part of a day in Sola de Vega, here with "Tio Rey" with his clay pot stills.
Flower stalk or quiote of a tepeztate (Agave marmorata); we get to see these, but only at the time of year the plant tends to mature.
Filming for the BBC at the (former) distillery of Mezcal Amores.
I'm a collector of mezcal paraphernalia; what a score of chango mezcaleros I came across boxed up in a deserted room behind a palenque.
Classic copper pot mezcal distillation, here in San Juan del Río.
A common sight with Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca (http://www.mezcaleducationaltours.com)
If we come across a fiesta, we're always invited to stay and participate; here, the 100th anniversary of a particular palenque in San Pablo Güilá.
While of course not obligatory, sampling at your option occurs throughout the day.
No explanation needed.
We try to get our clients to taste everything, here the "tepache" from the tina (fermentation vat), ensuring it's ready for distillation.
There is absolutely nothing touristy about where we take our clients to visit on Oaxaca Mezcal Tours. Lovely juxtaposition!
Click here to edit.
Different than typical Oaxacan stills: a visit to Mezcal Don Mateo in Michoacán.
