What Is Sotol? A Mexican Spirit That Isn’t Tequila Or Mezcal! | The Nibble Webzine Of Meals Adventures
[1] Sotol might be drunk with salt and lime, much like tequila (picture © Cristian Rojas “https://weblog.thenibble.com/2024/11/09/what-is-sotol-a-mexican-spirit-that-isnt-tequila-or-mezcal/Pexels).
[2] Hacienda de Chihuahua is the main producer of effective sotol. Sotol plata (a.ok.a. blanco, joven, or silver) shouldn’t be aged. It goes straight from distillation to the bottle (images #2, #3, #4, #5, and #16 © Hacienda de Chihuahua).
[3] Sotol reposado is aged for a number of months to a yr years.
[4] Sotol rustico is aged for 2 years.
[5] Sotol añejo is aged for at the very least one yr.
[6] Sotol further añejo, referred to as Sotol H5, is aged for 5 years.
[7] Sotol Por Siempre is a spirit from Chihuahua, Mexico, made out of the wild-harvested sotol plant. It’s produced by Compania Elaboradora de Sotol, a sixth-generation distillery (images #6, #7, #10, #11, #13, #14, #15 © Sotol Por Siempre “https://weblog.thenibble.com/2024/11/09/what-is-sotol-a-mexican-spirit-that-isnt-tequila-or-mezcal/Again Bar Mission).
[8] Desert Door Sotol is an American model, made in Texas. Totally different expressions received gold, silver, and bronze medals on the 2024 London Spirits Competitors 2024x (picture © Desert Door).
[9] A sotol plant within the Mexican desert. You should purchase a starter plant right here (picture © Pan’s Backyard).
[10] The plant grows wild, as does agave. Learn extra about it (images # © Again Bar Mission).
[11] Sotol roasting in a pit.
[12] Sotol is made in northern Mexico whereas tequila and mezcal are made within the south (map © MapPorn | Reddit).
[13] A glass of sotol (images #13, #14, and #15 © Sotol Por Siempre).
[14] Whereas some cocktails are crafted to showcase sotol, you possibly can substitute sotol for any spirit in basic drinks. Right here, a Margarita made with sotol as a substitute of tequila.
[15] A Bloody Mary (or Bloody Maria) made with sotol as a substitute of vodka. The Mexican model made with tequila is a Bloody Maria (picture ©.
[16] Crema de Sotol cream liqueur is made in two flavors, Nuez (pecan, proven) and Chocolate.
[17] A bottle of pechuga, infused with uncooked fruits, spices, and hen or turkey breast (picture © Convite Pechuga).
[18] Sotol de vibora, proven with the pina (coronary heart) and within the jar, a rattlesnake infusing within the sotol (picture © Casa Ruelas Sotol).
Whereas we now have no Mexican or indigenous ancestry, we take pleasure in celebrating El Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Useless), which takes place yearly on November 1st and 2nd.
We prefer to take a day to recollect our deceased ancestors, and we’ve developed a ritual in our small, New York Metropolis condominium. It often includes of tasting of Tequila and Mexcal.
This yr we added sotol.
What’s sotol, we questioned, after receiving the supply of a bottle from the main producer, Hacienda de Chihuahua, a household distiller in Delicias, Chihuahua, Mexico.
> There’s extra concerning the model under.
Sotol, one in every of six spirits distilled in Mexico, has lengthy been beneath the radar. In reality, solely two of the six—tequila and mezcal—have a lot recognition outdoors of the areas the place they’re created.
We’d written rather a lot about tequila, mezcal, and about different indigenous Mexican meals and drinks equivalent to pulque.
However sotol, together with (three extra conventional Mexican spirits under), was nowhere in our consciousness.
That modified with once we had our first sip of sotol. It was an añejo (aged), and delightful: flowers, grass, and vanilla on the nostril, a fancy palate barely candy with natural and peppery end. Heat and comforting!
We’re enthusiastic about this rising class, which is our Prime Decide Of The Week.
For those who’re a fan of tequila and mezcal, purchase your self a bottle. Your tequila- and mezcal-loving mates would love one as a present.
In case your native liquor retailer or Uber Eats can’t get you a bottle, there are many on-line sellers (the unaged Plata is about $35, the Anejo about $50).
And, you possibly can have a celebration to introduce your complete circle to a sotol tasting, by itself or together with tequila and mexcal.
> The historical past of sotol is under.
However let’s begin with some comparisons of sotol and its two better-known cousins.
WHAT’S SOTOL MADE FROM?
Sotol is a spirit distilled from the piña (additionally referred to as the crown, head or coronary heart) of the Dasylirion plant (images #8, #9, #10), which is native to the deserts of Mexico and the American Southwest. The plant is bush-like with spiny leaves that resemble a sea urchin.
It’s made in very small portions by just a few households in northern Mexico.
The phrase sotol comes from the Nahuatl (Aztec) phrase tzotolin, which suggests palm tree or “palm with lengthy and skinny leaves.”
Sotol is distilled from the Desert Spoon plant (Dasylirion wheeleri), which is usually referred to as sotol or sereque. It’s a succulent, however shouldn’t be an agave**.
Whereas tequila is by legislation made solely from Blue Weber agave, Agave tequilana, mezcal (might be made out of 30+ styles of agave; and though there are some 22 species within the genus Dasylirion vegetation, as famous above, sotol is made out of Dasylirion wheeleri.
> See extra concerning the sotol plant under.
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Manufacturing Areas
With sotol, every plant takes about 15 years to mature, and one plant sometimes produces just one 750ml bottle of spirits. The agaves of tequila and mexcal take eight to fifteen years to mature, and one plant yields 5 to seven bottles.
Manufacturing Course of
The manufacturing processes of all three are comparable:
Taste Profile
Denominación de Origen (Denomination of Origin) or D.O.
The catgegory of sotol acquired protected standing beneath a Denomination of Origin in 2004. It’s acknowledged by 27 international locations, however not but by the U.S. Which means American firms presently can produce a product referred to as sotol. One such model is Desert Door Texas Sotol, crafted in Texas.
The Mexican D.O. necessities for sotol embrace:
Sotol Curado & Sotol Liqueur
Sotol curado is a standard method of flavoring sotol plata/bianco by infusing it with numerous elements, much like mezcal curado.
The sotol is infused with fruits (apples, peaches, raisins, and others), herbs, nuts, and spices. They’re usually sipped like an apéritif earlier than dinner (however be at liberty to take pleasure in it as a digestif, after dinner).
A collection of these elements are left to infuse within the sotol for a number of days or perhaps weeks, so the flavors can mix.
Sotol de víbora (rattlesnake sotol) is a meat-infused sotol which is infused with—yup—rattlesnake meat (picture #18). Take that, you puny mezcal worm!
Tequila de víbora can also be made, together with tequila con alacrán, which is infused with scorpions. These are novelties produced in tiny quantities.
Pechuga Mezcal
Pechuga is a standard fashion of mezcal that’s infused with hen or turkey breast (pechuga means breast). Removed from a novelty merchandise, it thought-about some of the premium expressions of mezcal, a fancy, conventional, and extremely regarded (picture #17).
Like sotol curado, it infuses a number of the similar meals used within the choices to the useless.
Pechuga is historically distilled thrice. The primary distillation removes impurities, the second distillation infuses elements much like these utilized in sotol curado: almonds, apples, cinnamon, herbs, pears, pineapple, plantains, plums, tejocotes, and wild rice, amongst different prospects.
The third distillation suspends a uncooked hen or turkey breast within the nonetheless (pechuga means “breast” in Spanish). It is a conventional methodology of mezcal manufacturing that originated in Oaxaca.
We’ll shortly evaluation Convite model pechuga, which makes use of turkey breast (and is ideal for Thanksgiving, no?).
Sotol Liqueur
Hacienda de Chihuahua blends sotol with heavy cream, pure flavors, and sugar to make two expressions of cream liqueur: Nuez (pecan) and Chocolate.
It’s terribly easy and might be served as an after-dinner drink in addition to a topping for ice cream and dense loaf truffles (carrot, pound, zucchini) or fruitcakes, as a substitute of laborious sauce.
TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA SOTOL
Based in 1881, Hacienda Tabalaopa*** was the primary New World effort of the household that based Hacienda de Chihuahua greater than a century later.
Hacienda Tabalaopa is a 90,000 acre farm based to distill brandy by the great-great grandfather of Hacienda de Chihuahua’s founders, the Elias Madero household, who realized the time was proper to introduce the world to sotol. It was awarded a bronze medal on the 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competitors.
Each Hacienda de Chihuahua (based in 1996) and Hacienda Tabalaopa stay family-owned [source].
Hacienda de Chihuahua is now the world’s main producer of sotol. The model was the primary to export sotol globally and is a market chief within the class.
The Hacienda de Chihuahua product line contains:
All varieties besides the Plata are aged in new French white oak barrels.
The usual growing old size are roughly the identical for sotol, tequila, and mexcal.
The Hacienda de Chihuahua model can also be:
GET YOUR HACIENDA DE CHIHUAHUA SOTOL
THE SOTOL PLANT, A.Okay.A. DESERT SPOON
The Desert Spoon or sotol plant, Dasylirion wheeleri, is a big yucca-like plant that grows in (and is harvested in) the wild-harvested†.
It grows to a ball-like form with tons of of three-foot-long slender “ribbon” leaves with serrated edges (images #9 and #10). The plant can stay as much as 100 years as a result of its roots are left intact throughout harvesting.
It’s native to, and grows wild in, three northern states of Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango) in addition to in southwest Texas, and southern Arizona and New Mexico.
The plant that belongs to the Asparagaceae household. Dasylirion/Desert Spoon is a comparatively small genus of semi-succulents native to the Chihuahuan Desert. It prospers in dry climate and rocky situations, from flat to hilly or mountainous areas.
The mature plant produces a 10-15 foot-high stalk densely coated with with cream-yellow flowers (picture #9).
Along with making sotol, the plant has lengthy been utilized by indigenous folks as a supply of meals‡‡. The powerful leaves can be utilized to weave baskets and twine. As a result of the flower stalks are the proper density for beginning a friction fireplace (like sticks from a tree), they’re harvested yearly [source].
It’s typically used as a middle piece in cactus gardens, and You should purchase a starter plant right here.
OTHER SPIRITS FROM MEXICO
Because of Again Bar Mission for this data. Go to the web site to search out extra details about them.
Along with mezcal, tequila, and sotol, Mexico produces:
Plus, there’s pulque, the non-distilled alcohol that existed lengthy earlier than the Spanish introduced the approach to make distilled spirits. It’s believed to have originated with the traditional Otomi civilization round 2,000 B.C.E.
Pulque can also be made out of agave, however is totally different in these key methods:
For presumably 1,000 years, sotol has been distilled by the Anazasis and Tarahumara tribes of northern Mexico.
A non-distilled alcohol fermented like beer, could have been made way back to 7000 B.C.E. [source].
The indigenous Rarámuri of Chihuahua fermented juice from the Desert Spoon piña right into a beer-like alcoholic beverage as early as 800 years in the past.
Then within the 1500s, Spanish colonists launched European distillation strategies that enabled manufacturing of a real sotol.
Due to the trouble to distill spirits quite than ferment pulque, sotol has been traditionally consumed by the rich and distinguished.
That’s why there are only some business examples available in the market immediately. (Along with Hacienda de Chihuahua, we counted Clande Sotol, Desert Door, La Higuera, Los Magos, and Sotol Por Siempre.
Manufacturing isn’t extra in depth as a result of till very lately, sotol was largely unknown outdoors of its northern areas. The continued curiosity in artisanal meals, and the management of Hacienda de Chihuahua, will ship this area of interest spirit the fan base it deserves.
However as bartenders search to attractive clients with one thing new, and extra liquor distributors decide up manufacturers, Individuals can have extra alternative to “attempt it before you purchase it.”
(After tasting Hacienda de Chihuahua’s luscious Añejo, we’ve requested Santa for a bottle of Additional Añejo—referred to as H5 at this hacienda—if he’s feeling flush.)
The class additionally appeals to drinkers who care about natural merchandise. For the reason that Desert Spoon plant is wild harvested (not but cultivated), sotols are fully natural, grown with out fertilizers or pesticides.
