Mexico: Mescal

Marvelous Mescal There's a popular saying in Mexico that goes, "Para Todo Mal, Mezcal y Para Todo Bien Tambien", which translated means, "For everything bad, Mescal, and for everything good, too!" Here in Mexico's torrid southern state of Oaxaca, mescal has been a part of the indigenous Zapotec culture for more than an thousand years. Long considered the rough, unsophisticated cousin to tequila, mescal is, in fact, its predecessor and equal. What rye whisky is to scotch, mescal is to tequila. The difference lies in the process. While tequila piñas - the sugar-rich heart of the agave - are baked or steamed in above-ground ovens or autoclaves, mescal piñas are baked in a conical, rock-lined pit oven (palenque) over charcoal, and covered with layers of palm-fiber mats and earth, giving mescal a strong, smoky flavor. Join the Thirsty Traveler as he battles the stifling heat and investigates the strong character behind the myriad of mystical and savage flavors that is mescal.