When you hear the word mezcal, your reaction may be salivation or the opposite, but as with most acquired tastes, it takes some experimentation to find a flavor profile that resonates. While Oaxaca mezcal brands get all the fame, the ones from Guanajuato state appeal to sippers like me who normally gravitate more toward tequila and other spirits that don’t taste or smell like a campfire.
There’s some evidence that distilled agave started in this region anyway, back when productive silver mines started booming and the Spanish settled in with their equipment and distillation knowledge. So Guanajuato mezcal may be the original.. A few mezcal distilleries have been producing for more than 200 years and there’s a long tradition in two areas of the state.
We touched on the San Luis de la Paz area, near Mineral de las Pozas, in this feature story but on this latest trip I wanted to explore the San Felipe region.
The “Mezcal Route” of Guanajuato is more of a concept than an actual route so you’ll need to be better at planning than the four of us were when we set out for San Felipe with a few names and Google maps on the phone. Or ideally, you connect with a driver who knows the area well to take you from Guanajuato City or Leon up to the spread-out San Felipe region for some mezcal tastings.
San Felipe Mezcal Tasting Notes
It’s difficult to find mezcal from San Felipe in stores even in Mexico, where it seems to appear in regional bars more often. Those who like it tend to wish they had bought more later since it can be hard to find, so if it strikes a chord, you might want to get some extra bottles on site.
There are three key things to know about mezcal from San Felipe. First, this is an official appellation of origin area for the spirit, so yes it’s the real deal. Second, the producers don’t go overboard on the smoking of the agave/maguey fruits and some actually cook them in ovens like tequila instead of in a smoldering pit. To me that makes them much more refined and allows more nuances to shine through instead of the flavor profiles being buried in a haze.
Last, while there is a little of the espadin variety of agave here that’s so common in Oaxaca, it’s rare, so the mezcal in this area is generally made from salmiana, mapisaga, or one called parrys.
Visiting Villasuso Distillery
We set out on this Guanajuato mezcal adventure with grand plans to hit multiple distilleries in the San Felipe region but didn’t realize how spread-out the region was until we got there. Sometimes the journey alone is worth it though and that was the case this time. The road from the Silao area (near the Leon-Guanajuato Airport) heads through a pass in the mountains and goes through gorgeous canyons and ridges on the way north.
We started off with success though, with the GPS properly leading us well past the town of San Felipe to Villasuso distillery. A small billboard clued us in that the farm gate was the entrance we were looking for and we pulled in to the almost empty parking lot. The inside was empty too, so we walked around and took some photos, figuring someone would find us when the time was right, on Mexican time.
Eventually one of the family members motioned us inside and set up a tasting with small plastic cups. The explanations were all in Spanish and I missed the meaning on some of them, but we tasted three different versions, from barrel hooch to their premium bottle version.
Then the patriarch appeared and led us to the back where we could see the fermentation and distillation process in motion. The casual systems and open containers would probably give U.S. health inspectors sheets of issues to complain about, but they’ve been making mezcal at Villasuso for generations and what they’ve been doing works. They still roast the maguey in brick ovens, squeeze the juice out with a volcanic rock tahona, then ferment and distill in the same tanks that have worked since 1920. See more in English on their official website.
In the end, I couldn’t resist the temptation to fill up my own empty bottle I’d brought along for a mere $4. One of my friends that was along clearly had more refined plans for his bottle though and bought the best offering from the company instead.
A Tasting of Jaral de Berrio Mezcal
Our next destination was Jaral de Berrio, a distillery I was sure had to be located somewhere in the hacienda of the same name since the hacienda features prominently on the marketing and bottle labels. I was stymied when we arrived in town and found the hacienda to be boarded up with the doors chained closed. We wandered around the old stone ovens from the colonial age and then around the block to see if there was some kind of side entrance.
There was no side entrance, but we found a tasting area anyway. The company that produces under the brand names Jaral de Berrio and Mezcal Marques has a distribution storefront in their namesake town since apparently the actual distillery is out in the countryside. One smiling woman set up a tasting for us on top of cardboard boxes so we could try what they produce.
This company can trace its history back to the late 1700s, so you could say this is the original version of what we now know as mezcal. They steam their agave in ovens though, with no smoke in the mix, so to me the flavor profile is much more interesting than your typical mezcal. When I popped open a bottle a few months later at a party, I heard words like pineapple, melon, and pepper thrown out, which is a refreshing change from normal tastings of this spirit.
That is not what some people want when tasting this particular spirit though so the hard-core fans may find Guanajuato mezcal from San Felipe disappointing. For me it was a bright change. One other nice change here for me: a reposado version that has some oak aging to mellow out the flavors and add some refinement. It’s made from 100% salmiana agave.
Other San Felipe Distilleries
We tried in vain to find a couple of other Guanajuato mezcal distilleries I found vague references to online, thinking it would be easier than it was. When we broke down and asked the locals, we got shrugs or were sent on wild goose chases. Eventually we gave up and had a big lunch instead then did a short tour of San Felipe’s town center.
If I go back again, I’ll head to San Felipe town again and try to locate Torres Mochas distillery.
I’ll also try to reach Penca y Piedra through its Facebook page and arrive when it’s possible to get a tour and a tasting. It looks like they’re doing some interesting things and finding ways to get served in Guanajuato City and San Miguel de Allende.
Keep your eyes open if you’re in one of those places and give mezcal a second chance as a sipping spirit.
This post was made possible through a sponsor partnership with Guanajuato State Tourism. As always, we only cover aspects of Latin American travel that we think will interest our readers and all opinions are our own.
Article by Timothy
Timothy Scott is the founder and editor of Luxury Latin America and has been covering the region as a travel journalist since the mid-2000s. He has visited each country we cover multiple times and is based in a UNESCO World Heritage city in central Mexico, where he owns a home. See contact information here.
