In less than a decade, Mezcal, Mexico’s iconic spirit with a history dating back at least more than 400 years, has emerged from stagnation and finally earned a reputation as a quality spirit. Until now, its history, nuances, regulation, and myriad incarnations have been essentially ignored in popular English-language nonfiction literature, in favor of treatises that focus on tequila, another of the best-known major agave-based spirits. In Holy Smoke! It’s Mezcal! The Complete Guide from Agave to Zapotec (Mezcal PhD Publishing, 2014), John McEvoy does much more than distinguish the two Mexican spirits in detailed and concise fashion. He pays homage to mezcal, while at the same time providing his fans and newbies with a wealth of information in an entertaining and often light-hearted manner.
Chapters are titled and presented in an organized and easily summarized manner, allowing the reader to quickly find a selected area of interest. Despite this being the case, since Holy Smoke! it is a quick read, one is more apt to pick it up and not put it down again until it is finished. The photographs, plates, and illustrations are well placed and captioned to enhance the ability to use them as a tool to capture the essence of the minutiae of McEvoy’s text and message.
McEvoy’s enumeration of the history of alcoholic beverages in Mexico puts mezcal in a clear and understandable context. He rightfully devotes a significant portion of a chapter to pulque, the most popular fermented drink during pre-Hispanic times, and then traces its use to the present, along with that of other Mexican spirits such as sotol, bacanora, and raicilla.
McEvoy’s coverage of the variety of agave species and subspecies distilled across the country is admirable. However, he doesn’t get bogged down in the ongoing discussion of nomenclature. Rather, he acknowledges the disagreements and in chart form lists the species, then, along with them, several of the subspecies and common names based on where the distillation takes place. McEvoy would agree that it is a no-win situation for any hobbyist, distiller, or even so-called expert in the field to try to definitively solve problems on which botanists and taxonomists cannot reach consensus. In any case, while asserting that species (and, in my opinion, by implication, subspecies where there is agreement) is the primary determinant of flavor profile, with the plethora of other influences on aroma and nuance, dogmatism in Species and subspecies identification terms do not get us very far in our search for aroma and flavor profiles.
There are three sections of the book that stand out more than the rest. McEvoy’s treatment of aging is admirable. He is all for praising a good reposado or añejo, and makes light of those who would disdain anything but a joven. Similarly, without mentioning by name others who simply dismiss the concept of mezcal cocktails, he joins the Manhattan cocktail crowd, even going so far as to include a chapter on mezcal cocktail recipes.
I have been around mezcal for a quarter of a century and have written about its sustainability and how the nuances in mezcal are myriad and rampant. McEvoy’s sections on maintaining a healthy industry for all, and his detailing of the myriad influences exerted on each batch of the spirit produced, provide food for thought… for all of us. The modern era of mezcal is still very young. To a number, each of us should be continually open to learning, even those who live and have lived mezcal and nothing else. In fact, it’s refreshing to have witnessed seasoned palenqueros like Douglas French (Scorpion Mezcal, as well as promising youngsters within the industry like Judah Kuper (Mezcal Vago), both eager to be taught by others. And so those who think they know it all, they should at least acknowledge that a quick read of Holy Smoke could serve as a refresher on aspects of the industry that haven’t been considered for some time.
They would turn me in if I didn’t point out the shortcomings in Holy Smoke! For me, sometimes the book was too anecdotal, referring to issues that had nothing to do with mezcal. On the other hand, McEvoy’s excellent use of quotes from industry experts was valuable and illustrative of the breadth of research that went into the book. However, following a lengthy and utterly wonderful quote from Stephen Myers (Ilegal Mezcal), in which he romanticizes mezcal in a somewhat sensual way, McEvoy states: “Yeah. I like that. I could have added, ‘and it’s f- —-g unbelievable!'” just detracted from what he was trying to convey.
On occasion, McEvoy inadvertently fell into the trap of others, asserting absolutes where there are none, to the point that it would have been more accurate to use qualifying words like “approximately”, “mainly”, “in general”, etc. . ; in one case, he simply pigeonholed mezcal as artisanal and tequila as industrial. Finally, while McEvoy does an admirable job of explaining and synthesizing COMERCAM’s complex regulatory scheme, he errs in stating that “mezcal must be bottled at the distillery,” and at one point confuses COMERCAM’s export figures with of sales. But as suggested at the beginning, his main target audience is not those who are fully involved in the industry, or those with visions of becoming exporters, but hobbyists; whether they are spirits aficionados, tequila enthusiasts, or newbies to mezcal and other agave-based spirits, as well as bartenders, mixologists, and restaurant owners interested in advancing their knowledge with an eye to better serving their customers.
Holy Smoke! It’s Mezcal! The Complete Guide from Agave to Zapotec should be included in the personal library of everyone interested in fermented or distilled Mexican beverages. The breadth of coverage is impressive. While the depth does not rival that of certain topics contained in the third (and first bilingual) edition of Ulises Torrentera’s Mezcalería Cultura del Mezcal The Cult of Mezcal, John McEvoy’s thorough treatment of a wide range of topics related to the mezcal and agave is second to none. To this extent, it stands as an important contribution to the growing body of literature on mezcal.
