Legally speaking, tequila and mezcal are spirits that can only come from certain geographical regions of Mexico. The terms—and the booze–are geographically protected. However, the agave plants from which those spirits originate aren’t confined to those regions, and the inability to officially label a product as either tequila or mezcal hasn’t stopped enterprising farmers and distillers from attempting to use California’s blue agave americana plants as source material for a new wave of “agave spirit.”
Led by distiller Craig Reynolds, jimador Raul Chavez, and mezcalero Efrain Nolasco, this charge to produce California’s first commercial agave distillate is catching the attention of spirits enthusiasts everywhere. It goes down like this. The four tons of piñas that the trio will roast will be handed off to a master distiller, where the agave will be processed, fermented, distilled and packaged into what are sure to be 300 highly sought after bottles. The lucky distiller? St. George Spirits of Alameda, California, makers of fine gin, vodka and a deliciously unique Breaking & Entering American Whiskey. The finished product should be available sometime this summer, and is rumored to bear the name Los Pecados de Mi Padre, “the sins of my father,” an homage to St. George founder and master distiller Jörg Rupf.
Read more about the “mezcalifornia” movement here.
