Casa Machaya Oaxaca Mezcal Tours Photo Gallery
Clay pot distillation with palenquero in Santa Catarina Minas
Classic copper alembic distillation in San Juan del Río at the palenque of one of our favorite artisanal distillers
Enjoying a moment, and a tasting, with one of our most personable palenqueros in San Lorenzo Albarradas
A classic case of ingenuity, adaptation and sustainability, all of which we stress on our excusions, evidenced by this still in Sola de Vega
Just for the asking, you can participate in distillation processes such as filling a clay pot still with "tepache"
And when a TV/movie star wanted to learn about how mezcal is made, we insisted that he get his hands dirty, really!
While we specialize in personalized, custom mezcal tours for individuals, couples and small groups, we have accommodated groups of up to 70, that is wedding parties, 60th birthday bashes, annual college friends get-togethers, and university groups.
In addition to teaching about ancestral and artisanal mezcal making processes and the culture of the Zapotec families which distill, we stress understanding the differences in nuances ..... and enjoying while on the job learning.
At your option you can sometimes participate in loading the oven with the piñas, to gain a better appreciation of the hard work that goes into making that bottle of mezcal you see on the shelf of your local liquor store.
Although we do not condone becoming extremely inebriated during a mezcal educational excursion, sometimes it happens such as here with these two friends (who have returned for a second visit to Oaxaca and experience with us) at a distillery where the palenquero was preparing a steer for barbacoa (baking in an in-ground sealed oven).
One of our main objectives on a Oaxaca mezcal tour is to show clients as many stages of production as they happen, with nothing at all pre-planned for tourists. Pictured are green piñas ready for baking, donkey crushing, baked crushed agave fermenting in pine vat (tina), oven filled with agave (dirt mound), baked agave ready for crushing (right side top), logs ready to cook next batch, and we even see sacks of charcoal which is "waste" from the oven, ready to be sold.
Likely the most rudimentary fermentation vat we have seen, possibly pre-Hispanic, near Santiago Matatlán
