Mezcal Exploratory Trip: Oaxaca, Santa Catarina Minas, Volume 2
La Descendencia and Pasión Ancestral
If you haven’t already read my article just before this, you might want to do that before moving onto this one, which is a continuation of that same Friday in Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca.
Mezcal La Descendencia
I’d previously seen a number of photos of La Descendencia, the palenque of Félix Ángeles Arellanes. On one of the Facebook groups, fellow mezcal lover Craig Thompson told me el señor’s Green Room was “the most famous tasting room in all of Mezcaldom.” And I would come to see why!
His palenque is probably a bit on the larger side as compared to some in Minas, and from all indications, he keeps this operation humming right along regularly. I’ve no earthly idea just how many different distillations he had in his tasting room, but it was dizzying in more ways than one! An interesting thing: although Minas is known for making olla de barro mezcal (in clay pot stills), Félix also ferments some of his mezcales in clay tinas too.
Double your clay pleasure!
We were only halfway through our journey into Minas, and I was still trying to decide if I was going to be a Clay Maniac or not. One look (and delightful sniff) around this palenque, and I determined it might just be the perfect place to help me reach that conclusion.
As was the case at every palenque we visited that day, La Descendencia uses an in-ground canoa for hand crushing the roasted agaves. I (ahem) declined to help out with the crushing this time. Best to leave it to the professionals. :-)
A tasting in the Green Room is a fully bewildering experience. Unlike other palenques where they generally pour each person a small sip into a glass or jicara for you, Félix gives everyone a small jicara and offers you a large jicara from which to dip out as much as you please. This can be a perilous thing—especially since he brings you these tastes in rapid-fire succession! No joke: I don’t think he gives you more than a minute and a half between each one!
And he has a SHOCKING number of them. Thirty? Fifty!? In any case, I believe I may have tried somewhere between 15 and 18 different beauties myself!
Excellent Espadíns, transcendent Tobalás! I thought I’d had some pretty interesting ensambles before, but this guy’s? Altogether audacious! I’d learned about the Marteño agave earlier in the day from Rosario at Rambhá. It’s yet another Karwinski; a touch skinnier than a Tobasiche. But he had an ensamble that contained Coyote, Marteño, Maguey Blanco, Espadín and…what in the living hell is Maguey de Carne?! (He tried to point one out to me in the distance, but…yeah, right…my attention span along with declining visual acuity from this fast and furious tasting meant I could only pretend to see what he was motioning at.)
And there were so many other adventurous options. In my most recent article I mentioned how I had finally discovered a Pechuga I enjoyed—over at Rambhá Mezcal. Tio Félix? He must have had at least 5 different versions! If my hazy recollection is accurate, (and I have ZERO reason to believe it is), they were all made—not from Espadín—but instead from Tobalá, Tobasiche, Tepextate, Arroqueño, etc. And the added ingredients all added just enough flavor to make their respective components noticeable—but not even close to overwhelming.
My friends and I went in on a garrafon of his very special olla de barro Espadín, and I bought a bottle of his Arroqueño. (While VERY good, it wouldn’t be my favorite Arroqueño of the trip. But more on that in a soon-to-come article about the palenques we’d visit the next day.)
At this point it was pretty late in the day and we hadn’t had lunch. We really should have done that before going to La Descendencia, but were more than ready for the nice restaurant Félix directed us to afterward. No, I do not remember the name of said restaurant—and I’ve noticed that, starting with this palenque, I took no more notes for the rest of the day.
Mezcal Pasión Ancestral
Less than two weeks before our Oaxaca trip, I received a message from Alexis Canales. He explained his Mezcal Pasión Ancestral palenque was in Minas, and invited us to come. So I put him on our list!
I was thinking it would be a good idea to visit both some of the larger, more well known places—but also some of these smaller ones. While the operation may be small, Alexis tells me his family has quite a distinctive mezcal heritage. He continues to keep alive traditional distillation in clay. Apparently about 1890, his great-grandfather began to make mezcal there in Minas, and taught the ancestors of the current palenqueros in the area how to make it too.
Alexis gave us a nice tasting, but it was a good thing we got lunch after Tio Félix! He shared an Espadín, Tobalá, Tobasiche, and ensambles of both a Tepextate/Arroqueño and Espadin/Arroqueño. But also the highest ABV puntas I’ve ever had: an 80% Espadín and 84% Arroqueño! Excellent stuff!
He was very outgoing and excited to tell us stories and introduce us to his juice. His little brother Victor seemed to like the company too; quite the character!
It was a warm, sunny afternoon, we’d had our fill of tremendous mezcal and I knew this had to be our last stop.
We left with several bottles of Alexis’ fine mezcal. I mentioned I’d give my thoughts on copper vs. clay distillations in this piece, but I’ve realized it might be best to make that an article of it’s own. For now, suffice it to say that if you want to experience olla de barro mezcal, you’re right in the heart of that universe in Santa Catarina Minas. And it was an outstanding time.
When we got back to the AirBnb around 6:30 pm, the rest of our group sat in the courtyard for awhile. Me? I dove into that bed and woke up at 11 pm. Then back to bed. Some suggested it was just generally a long day of mezcal tastings; others that Alexis’ puntas was what did it to me. But I know the truth.
I blame Señor Félix Ángeles Arellanes! :-)
Next up: 2 separate articles about the next day in which we visited five palenques in Santiago Matatlán. Stay tuned!
Thanks for the article, and you captured the SCM adventure very well! Felix is indeed the clay pot maestro and his tastings come at you fast and furious. I've learned to slow him down, though it is not easy! I talk to my friends, sit on the little couch, let him see I am savoring each pour, but still, it seems he has somewhere to go! Probably to make more amazing shit. I've also learned that Felix has to be the first stop, and maybe the only stop that day. You can be there for hours and crush your palette for other palenques, though you may be able to rebound and recharge with a late lunch.
Also, Rosario has been on my list, but your description has moved it to the top! All in all, thanks for the post and I look forward to reading more!
Great article on a lesser known distillation method, I used to sell pots like his fermenting pots with the iron bands on them in my pottery shop outside Houston. You want that mash to stay upright, NOT tip over. That is a fun looking guitar in the last photo behind Alexis, they used every color in the crayon box to decorate the front. A minute and a half between tastes, WOW that is POWER DRINKING, glad you took one for the team!