Making Mezcal 101 - Oaxaca Mexico

If you know anything about Oaxaca, Mexico you know this is Mezcal country! We've spent the last 5 days at Casa Raab located in the hills above the city. This beautiful estate is owned by Tony and Rebecca, a couple of amazing expats. This estate has been in Tony's family since the 1960s. Aside from running a beautiful bed and breakfast, Tony also makes Mezcal on the property and gives tours around the area. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the beverage.

Mezcal is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant (a form of agave) native to Mexico. This beverage is generally drunk straight and has a strong smoky flavor. Tequila is actually a type of Mezcal made specifically from the blue agave in select regions of Mexico. But due to the strict regulations and laws, Tequila lacks the complexity and personality of other Mezcal. It's also not as strong. A good Tequila is generally 40% alcohol while a good Mezcal is 50-54%. We were warned early on to pace ourselves, but we didn't.

Tony gave us a full 101 lesson in the process of making Mezcal. It's similar to how they make Tequila, but with lots more variables. We sampled different types from all over the region. In the end we determined that we like Mezcal more than Tequila due to its complexity, variety of flavors, and the fact that people basically make it in their back yards using old school techniques. This adds personality!

Example, Tony poured me a very special glass from an unmarked jug stashed in the tool shed. He told me to admire the pinkish color which was unique to this particular Mezcal. I did, and then I drank it. He asked me if I could pull out the flavors of the pink color. I could. Then I asked him what it was and he said "it's rust from the still, don't worry, a little iron is good for you." I actually googled that and don't think it's completely harmless to drink rust, but that's Mezcal in a nutshell. If you want to drink cream liqueurs and fruity umbrella drinks go check into the Cancun Palace. But if you don't mind shaving a few months off your life by sampling real Mexican moonshine, check into Casa Raab!

Helping Tony load the still with a fresh batch of pulp from the barrels. The first run through the stiller makes shishi. The next run after that and we have Mezcal! Check out the featured video on the website. And there is another video on the video page... Click Here

Oaxaca, the world capital of Mezcal...

Although it sucks to get stuck behind one of these trucks going 8.5 mph, its pretty cool to see all the Agave plants on their way to be cooked into Mezcal...

This is what a Mezcal operation looks like. Very old school, very cool!

Here was our room at Casa Raab. Absolutely beautiful and a great place to hang and regroup before heading down the road...

We're heading south again. Working our way along the Guatemala border on our way to see the mayan ruins at Tikal. TREE

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The adventure is always in the problems

We spent the last 2 days trying to solve our fridge problem. We drove all over Oaxaca and made countless calls on Skype. At the end of the day its going to be too expensive to ship a fridge from the US and we were unable to find a store that sells anything close in Mexico. So through the process of elimination we've made the decision to go south without a refrigerator. Our next opportunity to fix the problem will be in April when I fly back to Oregon. Perhaps I can fly a unit back with me to Costa Rica on the return trip. Then we'd just need to find someone to install it, which believe me is not as easy as it sounds. Oh well, the adventure is always in the problems. And Tecate tastes just fine luke warm. TREE

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Ahhh, Snap! Are you sure it's broken???

I only had to make a half dozen phone calls to technicians and repair shops in the US to confirm what the Mexican refrigerator repair man standing in front of me had just said. It's broken. In a way that cannot be fixed.

Option #1 - Pay $1500 to have a compatible model shipped down from the US. Hope the Mexican repair man can install it. Turn time 3-4 weeks, (depending on customs. yeah, right).

Option #2 - Drive to Mexico City and try to find an RV shop that sells a Mexican fridge in the dimensions that fits into our fridge spot in the van. Then hope they have the skills to convert our van's system to the Mexican refrigerator's which will be different. Turn time 1-2 weeks

Option #3 - Continue, without a refrigerator, down the road toward the equator where it's really frikin hot. Turn time, 1 day

Option #4 - Get drunk on Mezcal and worry about it later. Turn time, 5 minutes ago

TREE

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Current Location - Oaxaca, Southern Mexico

Stevie and I limped into Oaxaca this afternoon. We are feeling very road worn right now. Since we left Acapulco 5 days ago we've driven nothing but winding mountain roads at an average of 25 mph. That was our top speed when we weren't following a semi truck doing around 10 mph. Every few hours we'd be flagged into a narco military checkpoint where we'd pretty much experience the same routine each time. Stevie and kiki would get out of the van and 2 or 3 hombres holding large automatic weapons and wearing full fatigues in 95 degree temperature would proceed to ask all kinds of questions about Kiki. What kind of dog is it? Is it a girl or a boy? Does it bite? Is it an american dog? One of the soldiers would join me in the van to supposedly search for drugs and guns, but instead he'd just point at things and ask me questions. Is this a picture of your family? Are those surfboards? Do you like living in a van? Is that a refrigerator? After a while he'd climb out and wave us through. I can't imagine how all the drugs make it to the US.

So here we are in Oaxaca and we're feeling really lucky. We got totally set up at a beautiful bed and breakfast hacienda. Its the perfect place for us to unwind, and the people who own it are REALLY nice. The woman is the sister of my aunts best friend's brother-in-law. Which brings me to an important question: If you have a friend, family member, neighbor, or distant acquaintance who may have or know of any good connections between here and the tip of south america, please let us know. Good contacts make Sprinter Life so good sometimes! Just send us an email. Seriously. We're begging. Get out that year book and pick up the phone!

We plan to hang here for a couple days to straighten ourselves out. We discovered that our refrigerator isn't working, which is a major blow. We're going to try and find someone here who can fix it. We also want to get the Sprinter serviced as this will probably be the last good place to do so until we hit Costa Rica in a couple months. We're feeling pretty far south right now. We an see Central American on the horizon. That's the quick update. We're safe. We've showered. And we're happy. TREE

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Puerto Escondido Surfing

I was really excited to get back to the coast and do some surfing, and what better place than Puerto Escondido, the Mexican Pipeline! When we got here yesterday I sat on the beach and watched what I thought were some pretty damn big sets roll in (see photo below). I talked to some guys who said the swell was average. I sat on the beach some more. At the end of the day I was still sitting, unable to muster the courage to paddle out. The wave at Puerto Escondido is unlike any I've ever surfed. The sets roll in slowly and then at the last minute the wave jacks up to completely vertical. The guys I saw making the drop were pretty much free falling down the face. Those that didn't make it took the brunt of the wave on their heads. The wave also breaks very close to shore, meaning it can be shallow. 

This morning I woke up early determined to catch my wave. I didn't drive all this way to sit on the beach. I stood at the water line for about 10 minutes with my board waiting for my moment to paddle out. There is no lane at Escondido so you really want to time it so you're not caught in the middle of a set. I timed it perfect and before I knew it I was sitting outside in the lineup. Ten seconds later I was wondering what the F@ck I was doing out there. The wave looked twice as heavy from the outside. I paddled around for about 45 minutes pretending to try for a wave here and there. Mainly I was trying to figure out how I was going to get back in without getting pasted on the beach in front of a crowd of spectators. The only thing worse than death is a lifeguard rescue at Escondido. I made it back to the beach in one piece. I don't think the pro sponsors will be calling me anytime soon and I don't expect to be appearing in the next issue of Surfer Magainze, but at least I dressed down. We're heading south again to try and find a smaller wave. TREE

No, this is not a photo of me! Here's a guy making the drop at Escondido. He made it. Stevie and I watched for a couple hours and saw some sick rides. 

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