Heads, Hearts, and Tails: Where You Cut Matters
Most people, I think, are under the false impression that when you distill a spirit, what comes out of that still goes directly into the bottle. But, in fact, different distillers make different decisions about which parts of the distillation they keep and which parts they leave out — and those decisions have a profound effect on the finished flavor (and, in rural Mexico, whether or not the finished spirit can qualify for certification as “mezcal”). That’s what we talk about in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
This episode of Agave Road Trip is brought to you by Flask Fine Wines. Flask Fine Wines offers nationwide shipping of fine wines and spirits, including vintage spirits and heritage agave spirits. Learn more, and get your next bottle, at flaskfinewines.com
Agave Road Trip is a podcast that helps gringo bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. It’s hosted by Lou Bank and Chava Periban.
In Santa Maria Ixcatlan, Oaxaca, the producers of heritage agave spirits call their spirits “ixcateco.” For the most part, what comes out of the still does go into the bottle, with the exception of a bit of the heads and a bit of the tails.
Because the clay pots they use for distillation are relatively inefficient, ignoring cuts is not as dangerous as it might be with a more efficient still. This is one of the clay pots that was used in the stills above, in Santa Maria Ixcatlan, Oaxaca.
Maestro palenquero Eduardo Angeles of Lalocura, who provides the quote for this episode of Agave Road Trip. Thanks, Lalo!
The significance of the cuts — puntas, cuerpo, and colas, or heads, hearts, and tails — were revealed to me in 2015, when I visited Lalo with my friend Michael Sager of Sager + Wilde and FARE in London. Lalo tasted us out on the individual parts of a single distillation, then mixed them together in front of us, letting us taste with each change he made to the blend. Eye-opening and delicious! This photo is by Michael, not me, which is why it’s so beautiful!
To qualify for certification as mezcal, tequila, raicilla, bacanora, or any other spirit classification in Mexico, the spirit must conform to a regulatory definition called a NOM. The NOM defines the spirit. To read a spreadsheet that compares the various Mexican spirit NOMs, click here.
Chatfest links!
If you enjoyed Bubba Ho-tep, Hap & Leonard, Cold in July, or Christmas with the Dead, you’ll want to check out…
Before he was a world-famous fancy-man writer, Brian Petkash would cycle across states with me, camp out next to rivers with me, and lose his sneakers with me. But now he’s a world-famous fancy-man writer.
