Agave Mexicana

[theholymackerel]

A Navaho friend of mine helped me find/dig/and clean up the penas from several agave Mexicana's. They aren't as big as the commercially grown azuls.

I baked 'em in a pit like a pig at a luau.

I ground 'em and fermented 'em with wine yeast. A 20 gallon ferment after draining off the liquid and pressing the fiber in cheesecloth yielded 13 gallons at aprox 5.5% abv.

Twice through the pot stills (15.5 gal and 6 gallon for finishing) and watered down to 90 proof gave a mescal with much more flavor than tequila, yet oddly delicate and soft on the tongue.

I'm very happy with the results. Not so happy with my "Inca Rice" batch. I did the mash with 90/10 inca rice/2-row barley and the ferment stalled at only 2% abv. I added some amylase enzyme and the ferment re-started, but is still slowly fermenting.

[SoMo]

That sounds great THM, good to see you around. Wish I could get some of those azuls been asked about tequila a lot. Are you going to put it on wood or leave it as a silver? Is it at all oily feeling?

[theholymackerel]

Yep, it's oily, and it's probably why it has such a soft mouth-feel.

I'm definitely gonna leave it white, tannins would ruin it.

[LWTCS]

Nice..

[Bushman]

If you need a second opinion.....!

[junkyard dawg]

great to see you around!

Thats a good yield! Glad it came out!