GATHERING OF MASTERS OF MEZCAL BRINGS AWARENESS AND CONTROVERSY
By D. Johnson
In December 2014, the mezcal cooperative association known as “Maestros del Mezcal” (Masters of Mezcal) met up in Oaxaca City to show their wares and make known the struggle they are engaged in: legalizing their operations so they can participate in the growing national and international mezcal market. However, before and after the event, they faced vociferous opposition from already-certified mezcaleros (mezcal distillers) and various governmental organizations, including the agency directly responsible for certifying a distillation to be mezcal.
MAKING TRADITION LEGAL
For hundreds of years, mezcal has been produced and distributed in rural communities throughout Oaxaca and other states. However, most mezcaleros can not legally sell mezcal because they lack certification, and getting certified is an in-depth and expensive legal process that these distillers cannot take on alone; they are simply too poor and isolated. Therefore, many have banded together to take the process head on.
Such is the case of Maestros del Mezcal (Masters of Mezcal), an association of mezcaleros formed into 9 cooperatives. For three years, this group has been working hard to get more than 300 mezcaleros certified. Fortunately for the Masters, various governmental agencies and politicians see mezcal as a way to breathe economic life into the impoverished Oaxacan countryside where mezcal is distilled. So for the past 2 years, they have been supporting mezcaleros with government money to help them through the certification process.
Most notably in support of the masters are the Oaxaca state governor Gabino Cué and the agency SEDESOH (Secretary of Human and Social Development). By the end of 2014, total governmental support from both of these sources numbered in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, most of which has been used to fix up palenques (mezcal processing locations).
OPPOSITION to the GATHERING
The event drew some heavy criticism from some big players in the industry, including COMERCAM (Mexican Regulatory Council of the Quality of Mezcal), which is the supreme authority when it comes to certifying a distillation to be mezcal. The president of this organization, Hipócrates Nolasco Cancino, took issue with the fact that most of the mezcal being offered to the public at the event would not be certified with DOM (Denomination of Origen).
“Clearly, the drinks being exhibited are not certified, and this puts the health of consumers at risk as well as the credibility of the authorities in charge of these types of events. It also breeds lawlessness”, said President Cancino. And for this reason, he petitioned various government agencies, including Oaxaca City authorities, to cancel the gathering of the masters. Supporting Cancino in this action were various mezcaleros who had already gone through the certification process. They saw it as unfair to allow the Masters to sell their unauthorized wares after they themselves had jumped through the hoops for the same permission.
Despite this opposition, the event took place. Dozens of Masters set up their distillations on crates and shared them with the public, which included Mexicans and foreigners from all around. Various speakers elaborated on the association’s objectives, which not only included mass certification but also maguey conservation efforts. Maguey is the plant from which both mezcal and tequila are distilled. Due to the rise in popularity of both spirits as well as a lack of control over the harvesting of wild species of maguey, the plant is slowly but steadily fading out of existence. The Masters are pushing for conservation and cultivation efforts to stop this journey down the road to maguey extinction and to give themselves and the world a long future with mezcal.
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