Documentary "Mezcals from Western Mexico and Pre-Hispanic Distilling"

Traditional agave spirit (mezcal) producers living around the Colima volcanoes are the successors of a tradition born probably 9,000 BCE, when their ancestors incorporated the cooked “hearts” of the maguey plant into their alimentary culture. Today, they are the heirs of the varieties, knowledge and techniques involved in elaborating mezcal, almost all of which are of pre-Hispanic origin: over 20 traditional varieties, cooking of maguey in underground ovens, extraction of its juice over rocks, and fermenting the must in rock-lined wells with large capacity (1000 liters). The actual distiller, however, is of Asian origin, introduced at least 400 years ago and made of easily available, rustic materials. The results of 10 years of research in the region are shown in this documentary, including successful experiments using replicas of pre-Hispanic vessels which suggests that the distillation process may have been known in this area as long as 3500 years ago. DVD 55 min long.