Mezcal, a name taken from the Náhuatl word mexcalmetl, is a Mestizo drink, a combination of the indigenous pulque and the distillation process intruduced by the Spanish. It was Cortez who brought the technology of distillation to Mexico when he landed in 1519. The Moors had taught the Spaniards this art some 700 years earlier. It was just a short time before the indigenous peoples began to use their native maguey for producing mezcal with these new methods.
In the Mixteca region of Oaxaca live the Mixtec people, the Trique, Chocho, Amuzgo, Ixcatec and Nahua. In the Zapoteca region live the Zapotecs, Chatin and Chontal. The northern zone is inhabited predomintantly by the Mazatec, Chinantec, Mixe, and Cuicatec.
The topography of Oaxaca is also the most varied in all of Mexico. The capital city of this state is in the center of a confluence of three great valleys at an altitude of 6,500 feet. There are mountains, plains, fertile valleys, tropical jungles and the Pacific Ocean all creating many differing growing zones for countless varieties of maguey.
The magueys existing in the state of Oaxaca vary from the giant pulque maguey, maguey silvestre (wild), maguey tobala (which makes one of the rarest mezcals). Tobala maguey grows only in the highest altitude, shadowed by canyons. The pinas are only cut one month out of the year and the mezcal is usually entirely consumed during the village's patron saint's fiesta. This wild mountain maguey has a smoky fruity bouquet and traditionally it is served in partially glazed clay sipping cups. It is not for the faint of heart, yet once tasted, you'll look for excuses to taste the wonders of this ancient and rare tradition.)
The most commonly used plants are the maguey espadin (sword), tepestate (horizontal), larga (long) and sometimes a larger variety of maguey azul.
The Agave is not a cactus. It was once classified in the same family with Lilies and Aloes. Today it is classified in it's own family, Agavaceae, which consists of more than 120 species.
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