Five Generations Of Mezcal Producers In Matatlan Oaxaca: A Proud
August 24th, 2010 | 
Author: Five Generations Of Mezcal Producers In Matatlan Oaxaca: A Proud Family Tradition
Alvin Starkman M.A. LL.B.
Don Isaac recounts awaking at 4 am then walking from his village of Matatln with his mule to Oaxaca arriving some 14 or 15 hours later just to buy a large cntaro the traditional clay vessel then used for making and transporting mezcal. Often he would stop en route at Santa Mara el Tule for a drink of refreshing tejate before carrying on. Quenching his thirst putting his feet up for a short while and chatting with his favorite tejatero made the arduous journey accepted custom just part of the job.
Eightyeightyearold Isaac Jimnez Arrazola has been producing mezcal in Matatln all his life just like his father and grandfather before him his sons Enrique and Octavio and now his grandchildren. The town has a colorful history and pride in being one of the oldest colonial settlements in the country founded in 1525 only a few years after Corts arrived in Mexico. But for literally hundreds of years the crowning glory of Matatln has been its status as world capital for the production of mezcal. In fact by 1980 this dusty onehorsetown had about 360 palenques the facility where the agave plant maguey is processed until mezcal slowly drips out of the still each producing about 2800 liters monthly.
All of my children Don Isaac emphasizes from when they were very young the boys and girls alike learned all the steps preparing the fields and tending the maguey watching out for infestations harvesting and the process in the palenque. And my wife Juana would be in charge and do everything when I was either on the road selling or playing in the band. You know Im a musician as well just like my grandfather Fidencio. He was a Master violinist.
Fidencio Jimnez Romero was born in Ejutla de Crespo in 1870. Towards the turn of the century he moved to Mataln as a young adult and became the familys first generation of mezcalero. He and his son both learned to distill mezcal the old fashioned way using clay pots for receptacles and carriso tall river reed similar in appearance and functionality to bamboo as the tubing required for the condensation and cooling processes. It wasnt until grandson Isaacs generation that copper was introduced into the town. That was in 1935. From then until the early 1940s copper revolutionized the means of production while at the same time modes of transportation also underwent dramatic changes.
The family patriarch recalls that using clay for transporting had its definite downside being fragile and at times dangerous. So when the opportunity arose to transport in latas de mantequa large tins in which lard was then sold he seized the opportunity. And then with the arrival of larger plastic containers a further change occurred. But by about 1943 with the PanAmerican highway by then almost arriving at Oaxaca imported oak barrels began to appear. Don Isaac saw a chance to transport even larger quantities.
In those days we never thought about aging. We used the barrels because they were big and I could fit 12 14 of them on my truck to go on my sales routes to towns and villages on the coast and in the mountains. It would take about a month to sell everything I had so that was the longest time mezcal would be allowed to age until I was sold out and could return home with a truckload of empty barrels. But when I realized I was losing a lot of mezcal due to barrel swelling and evaporation I went back to plastic. I just couldnt afford to sell from the barrel.
Throughout the 1950s business was good with national markets opening up as a result of improved highways. The family put their modest profits to work by purchasing additional tracts of land for growing agave. In 1957 they moved operations into the family homestead still occupied today by Isaac his wife and son Octavio and his family.
When asked to be town mayor el presidente municipal in 1966 Don Isaac of course couldnt refuse the three year post even though it was an unpaid position. It was an honor and considered part of tequio ones moral obligation to the community. Finances were strained but with the assistance of the family business continued and in fact thrived.
By the 1980s the Jimnez family had begun to barrelage bottle and export. The family realized that it could command a higher price in the marketplace by producing a smoother product with a different and often more pleasing flavor imparted through barreling. This more than made up for shrinkage.
Isaacs two sons fates had been sealed. Octavio had less of an interest in academics than some of his siblings who went on to complete university and teach. Although he attended high school he was more interested in working the fields and life in the palenque. Brother Enrique completed his secondary school education then entered university in Oaxaca obtaining a degree in industrial chemical engineering. During his college years he would spend the week living in Oaxaca and then Friday afternoon his father would pick him up and bring him home to Matatln. There he would work at the family business from timetotime putting his newlylearned expertise to work bringing welcomed innovation to various aspects of production.
Finally by 1993 the family had its own domestic brand Mezcal del Maestro now known as Mezcal del Amigo which has met with success in both Europe and the US.
Having five wellestablished types of mezcal in production has given the Jimnez family a measure of security. With Octavio and Enrique now at the helm the family has recently made a bold decision to move into the 21st century. The brothers are at the cutting edge of a new technique for baking agave which will enhance quality control while at the same time enable them to preserve the centuries old production methods of stonecrushing the carmelized maguey using horsepower literally fermenting in pine vats and distilling using a claybrick oven.
Matatln today remains a small town with the paved PanAmerican highway running through it mezcal factories and outlets fbricas and expendios on both sides of the road extending for perhaps a mile. Fields of agave under cultivation blanket the rolling hills in each direction. But turn off the highway and you can still step back into time and venture into the Jimnez homestead and watch mezcal being made as it was in the early 1900s when Fidencio Jimnez Romero was teaching everything he knew to his youthful grandson Isaac. Just ask anyone in town how to get to Don Isaacs where youll meet Octavio and Enrique Jimnez and yes their children the fifth generation of mezcaleros.
Mezcal del Amigo the Jimnez family brand will be producing mezcal at its new facility on the left hand side of the highway entering Matatln effective early 2008. Youll be able to witness each stage of the production process and taste a variety of high quality mezcals. And you can also ask one of Don Isaacs grandchildren to run you by the old homestead to see how it all started.
About the writer: Alvin Starkman received his Masters in Social Anthropology in 1978. After teaching for a few years he attended Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto thereafter embarking upon a career as a litigator until 2004. Alvin now resides in Oaxaca where he writes leads small group tours to the villages markets ruins and other sites is a consultant to film production companies and operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed Breakfast. http://www.oaxacadream.com .
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