Mescal Distillers in Hopeful Spirits

Like everywhere else in Mexico, the southern state of Oaxaca has been hit hard by the economic crisis, a calamity that increasing numbers of free-spending foreign tourists attracted here by prehistoric ruins can’t compensate for.

There are corners of prosperity, however, especially in the world of mescal, the somewhat mysterious spirit made from the agave cactus that is purported to have medicinal powers and to arouse sexual desire.

Exports of the liquor grew 25% last year to about $10 million. Sales were helped by the weaker peso, which enabled the 230 or so mainly family-owned manufacturers to lower prices a bit and to spend more on pitching their product to foreign consumers.

To be sure, sales of mescal amount to just a fraction of those of tequila, which is also made from the agave cactus but is distilled differently. But the growth of mescal exports is welcome news in an otherwise dismal state economy based mainly on mining, fishing, coffee and indigenous artijsanry such as textiles and ceramics.

Oaxaca has suffered from rising unemployment, caused partly by the continuing migration of its mostly indigenous population to the capital city, also named Oaxaca.

Recently, a toll road opened linking Oaxaca with Mexico City, cutting driving time in half to five hours, and theoretically linking the region to one with a more modern economy. But the stiff $40 toll each way for commercial vehicles has inhibited its use.

The mescal industry employs about 15,000 people in the state of Oaxaca, which is responsible for 70% of Mexico’s mescal production, said Porfirio Chagoya, a third-generation mescal manufacturer. Farmers, most of whom have three- or four-acre farms, are paid about $70 per ton of agave hearts.

Despite mescal’s overall export growth--chiefly to France, Japan, Taiwan and elsewhere overseas--distillers are alarmed that its popularity has waned in the U.S.

Mescal enjoyed a burst of popularity with Americans in the mid-1980s, fueled in part by the reputed aphrodisiac powers of the agave worm, one of which is often added to the bottles. But U.S. sales have since slowed, distributors say.

Leading mescal brands Monte Alban and Gusano Rojo “were huge 10 years ago--everybody got worm-crazy. Then it kind of died down,” said Dale Pyle, owner of United Spirits Co. in San Juan Capistrano, importers of Mexican wine and spirits.

Part of the problem is that the mescal industry is so dispersed. It’s dominated by small distillers who have little marketing clout on their own. The exceptions are Monte Alban and Gusano Rojo, which dominate the U.S. market.

Many distillers are throwbacks to past centuries and still use trapiches, or mule-driven grindstones, to crush the agave pina, or heart, to extract the sweet liquid that is later distilled.

To give their products a new marketing push, Oaxaca’s small mescal manufacturers banded together last year to form their own camara, or chamber. They hope to advance awareness of their drink outside Mexico’s borders, said Chagoya, the group’s first president.

Mescal producers figure they have a colorful story to tell. Mescal--with its high potency and strong smoky flavor--is more than an aperitif.

Distillers insist the drink has medicinal and tonic qualities. Tribal women drink mescal to withstand the pain of childbirth, and laborers drink it for added strength.

The cult that still surrounds mescal in Mixteca and Zapoteca cultures in southern Mexico ascribes mescal’s powers to the worms, which are dug out of agave plants. Like the drink itself, the worm is something of an acquired taste.

Chagoya says the chamber must inform consumers in Mexico and in foreign markets of the difference between pure or anejo mescal, which most of them make, and the adulterated mescal that mass producers sell.

As with tequila, most budget-priced mescal sold in the United States has added sugar or corn liquor. Some manufacturers use the additives as filler to bring the price down, because the increasingly scarce agaves are expensive.

Chagoya’s group has called on the Oaxaca state government to do more to promote the cultivation of agave cactuses by farmers.