What Makes Sotol a Highly Underrated Mexican Spirit

[Celerity]

Known as tequila’s sexier cousin, sotol is having a moment.

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/sotol-underrated-mexican-spirit



If you’ve never heard of sotol before, a quick Google Image search will make you think it’s just like agave. Also known as desert spoon, the drought-resistant plant looks the part, with mint-green spikes that protrude from a dense inner core, growing up to eight feet tall and six feet wide, depending on the variety. But, fun fact, sotol is actually in the asparagus family and has a rich history that traces back thousands of years—with Indigenous groups across the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila, as well as portions of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, using the plant’s spiny leaves for weaving, and slow-cooking its core for sustenance in harsh desert conditions. Sotol’s juices were fermented to make a ritual beer-like beverage, and, when Spanish conquistadors brought over the copper distill roughly 350 years ago, sotol was introduced in spirit form. “That’s when we started to use it here in the Northern part of Mexico in the Chihuahuan desert,” says Juan Pablo Carvajal, co-founder of the Chihuahua-based Los Magos. “Back then, we did it to share with the community. That tradition was the one that kept on going, and the one that we’re anchoring ourselves to, to bring sotol to the market today.”

With the popularity of agave spirits like tequila and mezcal, you might be wondering why you haven’t seen sotol offered at your local bars. That’s in part due to the lasting impact of Prohibition, which shut down burgeoning sotol distilleries in Texas, as well as operations in Mexico that trafficked the spirit across the border. “During the age of Prohibition, there was a growth in the production of sotol, as well as a growth of the production of whiskey that created a rivalry,” Carvajal explains. “Al Capone came down to Chihuahua, tasted sotol, and brought it to Chicago. So we were making this traditional spirit and sending it over the border as moonshine. That became a bit of a problem for the Mexican government so they decided to ban the production of sotol in Chihuahua so that it couldn’t be commercialized, sold, or drank anywhere.” This, coupled with a negative campaign that branded sotol as a “low class” spirit, hindered the industry’s growth well into the 1980s and ’90s. Carvajal credits local families who helped keep the tradition alive during this de-facto Prohibition period.


A sotol Paloma.

Now that sotol can be openly produced, many are taking advantage of the spirit’s relative obscurity outside of Mexico, which allows for more experimentation in harvesting and production methods. Producers witnessed mezcal’s recent leap in global popularity, which has subsequently threatened smaller, farmer-run productions in Mexico, as well as long-nosed bat populations that are responsible for pollinating the agaves. This has inspired a strong sustainability movement within the sotol industry to help protect the plant for future use. The Mexican government has also created a hurdle that acts as a sustainability measure by requiring that sotol producers only harvest up to 40% of mature plants in any given area. Traditionally, sotol has been wild harvested, but in hopes of ensuring the longevity of the spirit, Los Magos has also begun planting sotol that they plan to harvest once it reaches maturation. “While a plant might take 25 years to mature in the wild, in a controlled environment, it might take six or seven years,” Carvajal explains. “For us, it's very clear that in the future, we are going to have to have that balance between a wild harvested sotol, and a planted sotol. And being aware of that right now allows us to learn lessons from other industries.”

IZO Spirits—a brand that specializes in traditional Mexican spirits like mezcal, sotol, raicilla, and baconara—produces its sotol in Durango, where it’s recognized as a state spirit. IZO makes sotol using a process similar to mezcal: After finding wild, ready-to-harvest plants—usually between 10 and 12 years old—they clean them and bring them back to their distillery, where the core is cooked inside a volcanic fire pit. It slow-cooks for four to five days, before it’s ground in a mill and naturally fermented for two to three more days. Then, the distillation process begins. IZO utilizes a double-distillation process that gives their sotol a smooth and clean finish, while landing at 47% ABV. The taste is specific to the region, with grassy and earthy notes that showcase the sweetness of the plant. To ensure the future of sotol and the Durango deserts where it grows naturally, IZO has created a sotol trading program with local ranchers. “It’s a win-win scenario,” says IZO co-founder Gaston Martinez. “We buy sotol from them and then go back and replant some that we’ll buy back from the farmers when the plant is mature in about 10 years. That’s one way we’re trying to maintain and sustain this business for years to come, but we also utilize solar panels, our own water treatment plant, and well.”

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[niyad]

1. Thank you for this fascinating information. I will be checking today with my local

liquor store to see if they carry any,