In an article entitled, “Tojkx: from cooks to chefs or the obsession with authorship,” Yasnaya shines a light on the way we in Capitalistic societies have a different take on property ownership that has, in recent times, trickled down from land and real estate to food and culinary creations. He talks about how some traditional recipes have been treasures and works made by communities over many generations are varied in some small way so they can be introduced into the market and be attributed to individual authorship. This happens in food, but as I read I could not help but make the comparison with mezcal brands that are touted as “signature mezcal” and how this oftentimes whitewashes the societal and cultural contributions that went into the preservation and development of my favorite distilled spirit.
While it is true, the Maestro Mezcalero imprints their personal touch to the production that we and other mezcal importers bring to you. Their technique is their own personal expression of their mastership of production, and it’s a process that many apprentices work for years to learn to eventually become recognized as Maestros in their own right. That being said, the elaboration of traditional mezcal occurs under a collective mental construction that is shared by a community. This tacit knowledge preserved in the rural mezcal producing communities establishes how it should be done and what the mezcal should taste like. Cornelio Pérez coined the term “Gusto Historico” to denote the “historic custom” that refers to this collective construction.
So, it’s difficult to say that a recipe can be unique or a “signature recipe” since the production techniques to bring forth mezcal (and other agave distillates for that matter) have been a social treasure and community work of development for centuries since its creation. Likewise, it is difficult to say that if a Maestro Mezcalero makes a unique technique to produce mezcal that this new creation will be accepted by the community or considered “good” by those who have worked to preserve and protect the traditional methods for production.
For example, the traditional technique for cooking maguey in the small community of Santa Catarina Minas consists of using a bed of vagasos (waste of cooked and crushed maguey), between the hot stones and the green maguey cores, so that they do not burn. There’s also the final step of pouring a few buckets of water on the stones to remove the smoke, which helps in creating a less smok variety of the drink. It’s a technique that is observed by apprentices and must be mastered, as too much water will result in a cold oven and undercooked maguey. Likewise, not enough water would result in a more smoky maguey that emerges from the underground pit oven. It’s a technique that the Maestro Mezcalero can use to insert their own touch of flavor, and a small window in which true authorship and mastery of the production process can really shine through.
If a Maestro Mezcalero from this rural production town fails to carry out this action, he would not be respecting the traditional elaboration technique of the region (the collective recipe) and surely the smoky note would be more intense, so they would consider it “a bad mezcal” and it would not be accepted by the community.
There is a similar traditional touch with the mezcals that come from the region around Sola de Vega. In this rural community of producers, the “Gusto Historico” is to place the core of the mague directly on the hot stones and pour no water whatsoever. The resulting production is smoky and more brute in flavor. If Maestro Mezcalero in this area were to think of pouring water into the oven and removing the smoky note from the mezcal, it is likely that the community would not consider it a production from their region.
So if traditional mezcal respects the production technique of its community, then how can we say that a mezcal from one Maestro Mezcalero is unique to another? If the knowledge is generational and tacit, how can it be unique?
These are questions that we approach when talking about “authorship” or “signature mezcal”. Since the greatly increasing demand for mezcal is starting to draw more criticism about quality and authorship, and as producers start to gain their own fanbase, we must work to protect the “collective knowledge” and “social fabric” of these communities around mezcal from the innate desire of free markets to highlight individuals as the sole bearers of their craft. While it is true that the Maestro Mezcalero has a lot to do with the quality of production and that their “toques” (personal touches) are important to the final product, we must work to respect the collective actions of the community of the past and present that brought us the drink we enjoy today. We respect the collective while we recognize that there is room for, and indeed many personal touches that have made their way into the production of mezcal.
For example, there are varieties of mezcal produced with “pechuga” (often misconstrued as simply “chicken breast”). This process is where the Maestro Mezcalero suspends ingredients within the distillation that add a unique flavor. While yes, there are instances of chichen or Serrano ham being used, our Maestro Mezcaleros also use fruits, flowers, honey, mole and other spices to make their distillation uniquely theirs. In our eyes, this type of agave distillate could certainly be called “signature mezcal”, because it is a unique touch on an age-old production technique. And while it may be mezcal, it is not traditional mezcal in the most specific sense, as it deviates from the “Gusto Historico” of production.
So why the whole “to-do” over the production and the name we ascribe to production techniques? As I write this, there are mezcal marketers in the USA and Mexico that are engaged in a heated discussion about how high-proof traditional productions are not best for the market. The argument goes that high-proof mezcals can be made into lower proof products that the market still accepts, enjoys and considers “mezcal.” That if the consumer likes this “commercial” mezcal then who are we (those who import and represent this traditional beverage) to tell the customer otherwise? They say this because they see it from the perspective of market demand. The in their quest to quench the thirst for mezcal, they ignore the collective construction and the “social fabric” behind the traditional mezcal production processes. And that is serious, because it presents a risk that, little by little, the traditional technique will be lost to market pressures. In the case of traditionally produced products like mezcal, progress may come to strip the very essance of this traditionally produced beverage from it. We saw this happen over the course of years with mezcal’s cousin, Tequila. As demand for the product grew, production techniques changed to squeeze even more liquid from the production process to where at this point, most tequilas on the shelves of bars and liquor stores share nearly nothing in common with their ancestral production that made it a sought after product to begin with. Instead of being a traditionally produced product of Mexico, it has become an industrial product made by machines and mostly in the hands of foreigners.
That is why it is important to pay close attention to the sociocultural dimensions of mezcal. It’s important that distributors and importers not invent terms and make adjustments in the production techniques that gradually lead to the extinction of this traditional Mexican distillate.
