Mescal Re-Visited

Great meeting yesterday with the mescal producers in Acateyahualco, Guererro (see Mescal). Five years ago I showed them how to monitor their Agave populations to avoid over-exploitation and to ensure future supplies of mescal. They have been doing this every year since. They know exactly how many seedlings, and juveniles, and adults they have in the surrounding dry forests, and exactly how many they can harvest each year. The number of small plants in local Agave populations has actually gone up.  Very proud of these guys. [NOTE: Image above shows a mescalero from Acateyahualco testing the alcohol content of his product. Can be as high as 72%. Whew. Powerful stuff].