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By admin on December 18, 2013
I must admit to you all that I was a bit reluctant regarding my evening of tasting several (5 to be exact) Mezcal liquors, as the Tequila family and I do not get along…we had a falling out of sorts many years ago. I apparently lost the battle and along with it my liking for strong alcoholic beverages. That being said, I figured that since many years had passed, maybe my palate could be persuaded to let bygones be bygones and move beyond what I like to call ‘the permanent pounding of drums war’ that I was inflicted after going a couple of rounds with the worm induced poison. Maybe I was fooling myself but there was only one way to be sure…to be sure that the war was finally over.
The Bytown Museum in collaboration with the Mexican Embassy, hosted this special and rare event. They did a great job of beautifully displaying Mexican artifacts throughout the entire second floor of the museum. Artifacts and exceptional pieces of photography showcased life, culture and art of the Mexican people. Arriving early to the event gave me the opportunity to see Sergio Inurrigarro, the Maestro Mezcalero who conducted the Mezcal tasting in his element, making sure every detail was taken care of before the event was to commence. Attendees of the event had the pleasure of being introduced to Mexico’s ambassador, Francisco Suárez who kicked off the event by saying that anytime was a good time to have Mezcal!
Sergio Inurrigarro, the Maestro Mezcalero (left) and Mexico’s ambassador, Francisco Suárez |
Mexican art display |
The various kinds of Mezcal that were being tasted |
With the Maestro leading the evening, I was like a sponge trying to retain and understand everything that was being thrown at us in regards to the history and background of Mezcal, the “mystic elixir”. Ironically retaining and understanding was the easy part…now was the part I feared the most – the tasting! Now please bear in mind that I am not one who typically drinks what some folks consider as ‘hard spirits’ but let me tell you…I was ready for whatever this Mezcal was going to throw at me or so I thought. But before our lips could even touch the flutes of our first tasting we were informed of how to properly consume Mezcal. There was a science to this and for this I was very intrigued. Apparently your saliva plays an important role when drinking this spirit. The molecular structure of your saliva breaks down the enzymes of the alcohol, hence it makes it more smooth to go down the hatch. So there we all were looking like we were all about to kiss someone, all part of the instructions on how to perfect the tasting techniques. Who knew that the tasting could be this much fun? Ok, so I got ahead of myself on this one. The explanation behind the “kissing” look is one of science, when you pucker up to kiss you naturally form a small pool of saliva under your tongue (this is what you want and need when tasting Mezcal). When you taste the spirit, you mix it with your saliva as if you were chewing it, then you stroll it in your mouth and palate to be able to taste its rich flavors. Finally you drink it, perfectly blended with your saliva and repeat and enjoy. Well my friends, even if we did look like a group of wannabe kissing fools, the technique actually did work. To be devils advocate I tried the tasting with and without this method…and let me tell you the saliva softens the fire that the Mezcal was giving me. I looked around the room to see if I was the only one experiencing this heat, apparently it was ALL me. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and relished in this new “kissing” technique.
Traditional Mexican appetizer: Cheese and grasshopper |
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