Sons of Mezcal: An intimate family portrayal
Coming this August is a new documentary centered on mezcal called Sons of Mezcal. Directed and produced by Stephan Werk, it follows the Cortés family who have been producing mezcal in Oaxaca for six generations. Casa Cortés is known for
Dining at Casa Oaxaca
Alejandro Ruiz’s “The Food of Oaxaca” is the most grounded and emotionally direct cookbook that I’ve read in quite some time. The book traces a life, a culinary philosophy, and the course of ingredients into recipes that will light up
The business of 2020: the shift to a virtual world
This the second of our series looking at the business of mezcal in 2020. Part one, looking at the shift to retail, can be found here. 2020 was the year we all had to embrace living life online. It wasn’t like
Traceability today
A few years ago the CRM decided that in order to make certified mezcal transparent and traceable all bottles would have a hologram with a QR code on them. Scan that code and you’d learn everything about its contents; where
Oliver Sacks’ Oaxaca
Reading Oliver Sacks’ Oaxaca Journal in Oaxaca is a particularly sad experience because he died just about five years ago. That seems like yesterday, his influence is still so fresh, his ideas and books are still everywhere and yet, and
An “Ode to Odd Agave”
Serendipity and poetry go hand in hand so it's no surprise that my recent post on Mary Ruefle's mention of agave in one of her poems means that another, much more botanically correct, poem devoted to agave has come to
Coronavirus Cookbook Series: The Native Mexican Kitchen
What a joy it is to see The Native Mexican Kitchen in print having followed its journey from its beginning. Rachel Glueck and her husband Noel Morales, owners of El Refugio Mezcaleria, have crafted a beautiful book that explores the
The roots of mezcal
Alex White has quietly been making a name for himself these past few years. He moved to Oaxaca to work with mezcal and an art residency; for him the two are inextricably intertwined. Among the many results are Rezpiral, a
Watch mezcal in action
I just saw a report that binge watching is finally declining. Could that mean that we're finally focusing on quality cinema like the Criterion Channel? Fortunately or not, that's not the case because it probably means that we're leaving the
Quarantine Cooking Part 5: Oaxaca – Home Cooking From the Heart of Mexico
This post is part of a series where we are cooking recipes from some of the Mexican cookbooks released this and last year, in the hopes that we’ll make your quarantine cooking a little more fun. Check out: Part one on Danny