Legend has it that Mayahuel , the female divinity associated with the maguey plant agave was a woman who had breasts, and due to her fertility, the gods turned her into an agave plant.
Mezcal is having a big moment these days, with niche brands filling the market with high-quality product and a supply and demand that's off the charts. But from your lips to the glass, much of the artistry and the stories of the people who are making it are often lost. As we sipped on mezcal after mezcal, they told me their stories. All photos by the author. At years-old, Bertha Vazquez is a master mezcal maker who's been making the stuff since a little girl out of necessity.
Vasquez learned the secrets to making mezcal from her grandparents but didn't start producing her own until her husband's sudden death, when she had to look after her five children and went full throttle on production. Vasquez, however, confesses that after all these years of hard work, her body is very tired. The hardest part is "the cutting" and loading of the cart for which a man she refers to as "Mocito" helps her alongside his donkey.
These days, she and her daughter-in-law work together to produce anywhere from to liters of mezcal per month, depending on what type of agave is used. With teary red eyes from the smoke that takes place during production, Bertha explains, "there used to be a lot more agave before people from San Luis came in to buy it. Mezcal heals almost everything, or at least that's what the working hands of Vasquez believe.
If you've got a cold, she instructs, "smell it. We have to carve our own space. Some people in the industry might speak badly about a woman working amongst men, but I am respected here. Not going to school forced me into doing this, and there's nothing else for me out there," she explains. Reyna honors her name queen , and is happy, honest, comedic, and says it like it is. She has two kids but never married and doesn't need to: she inherited the strength from her grandfather, Ignacio Sanchez, "a man of good build," who took care of her until his death.
