On the surface, mezcal is one of the most fashionable spirits in developed markets around the world. The launch of mezcalerias in London and other parts of Europe show it’s one of the most trendy categories within the industry. However, beneath its hipster appeal and the romantic imagery of small farms and remote distilleries, administrative challenges facing the mezcal category are piling up fast.
In late February, the Mexican government did a U-turn on the implementation of a new regulatory policy called Norma Oficial Mexicana, or Nom-199. The bill was being brought in to regulate the production of all alcoholic beverages made in Mexico including acceptable chemical levels and the classification of spirits which fall outside existing Denominación De Origens. The policy had been years in the making and having only been officially introduced in late 2020, the sudden cancellation has left many producers scratching their heads.
As a result, all Mexican beverage producers have defaulted back to the older Nom-142 policy, which is a basic regulation to ensure standard hygiene practices are met. Currently the Consejo Regulator Mezcal, known as the CRM, regulates the production of mezcal throughout its nine listed territories in Mexico, according to its own Nom-70 regulation. In order to have a mezcal registered, a producer must meet the various criteria laid out by the CRM, including sending in lab samples to check its methanol levels, having its distilling process meet certain standards, plus a host of other costly procedures. Those producers which sit outside the DO laid out by the CRM, or who do not wish to register, are classified as ‘destilados de agave’ and their products cannot therefore be labelled as mezcal, and it’s this category which appears to have suffered the most following the recent regulation changes.
Susan Cross (pictured), co-founder of consultancy and education provider Mezcalistas, says: “It looks like Nom- 199 is gone, but producers are in limbo right now because we think it’s over with, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it suddenly comes back into play.
“From the very beginning Nom-199 was very controversial and there was a lot of push back. Initially, any uncertified producer or one that fell outside the DOs could not use ‘Maguey’ or ‘agave’ on its labels, but instead they came up with this word ‘Komil’.”
Komil, which has no direct translation to English, was a blanket term introduced to replace destilados de agave and would have left these producers in no- man’s land with the new labelling, especially with export markets.
Cross adds: “Nom-199 had always looked destined to pass as law, which led the CRM to start aligning its own lab analysis standards with the requirements of Nom-199, specifically with the new levels of methanol which were being introduced.”
The methanol debate has rumbled on for a few years now and it’s a controversial point among the wide range of mezcal and destilados de agave producers. The new regulations set to be introduced by Nom-199 had a far more restrictive limit on the amount of methanol permitted in production compared to the US and other markets.
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Ivan Saldaña of Montelobos, now owned by Campari, said at the Conferencia Agave in Oaxaca in late 2018: “Eating 1kg of apple gives you more methanol in your blood than half a bottle of non-certified mezcal. While fruit brandy can go up to three times higher in this compound – legal in the US and Europe, in mezcal we have stigmatised methanol content with no coherent reason. This is destroying historic taste in the argument for ‘quality’ and pushing producers to change the way they produce and the traditional agaves they used to produce with.”
Pernod Ricard’s Del Maguey openly changed the methanol levels of some of its varieties in late 2018 so that it would pass Nom-199. But now that the bill has been abandoned the smaller destilados de agave producers who have put time and money into aligning with these new methanol levels have lost out.
On the flip side it could be argued that the sudden cancellation of Nom- 199 is good news for destilados de agave producers. They no longer have to worry about calling themselves Komil and they can continue making their spirits just as they have done for hundreds of years. However, with a sudden lack of any significant regulations it could put them in a compromising position.
Jon Darby (pictured), founder of Sin Gusano, has been travelling around Mexico meeting local distillers and buying single, often unique, batches of destilados de agave which he then bottles under his own brand.
“I don’t really know what the long- term effects are [for the cancellation of Nom-199],” says Darby. “But I could see a way to construe an argument that the mezcal regulatory bodies had been lobbying for that change, so that it leaves uncertified producers totally unregulated and therefore might force their hand to certify as mezcal.”
All the products sold under the Sin Gusano brand are destilados de agave and through a new subscription service in the UK called the Mezcal Appreciation Society, Darby is providing a far more diverse offering to consumers.
“I want to expose consumers to the diversity of different mezcals. I’m in a bit of a race to change the perceptions of mezcal because most consumers only see the major brands, which nearly all carry similar favour profiles. So I’m trying to spread the word that there are many different styles and nuances between flavours to explore.”
Right now destilados de agave are a recognised category in the US and they are growing in popularity given the wider pool of production methods and agave varieties at their disposal. Therefore the CRM is now seeing those destilados de agave brands as competitors and desperately trying to get those uncertified producers which currently sit inside the DO to register as mezcal.
Cross adds: “The CRM is there as a regulatory body to protect the DO and would be very happy if every producer would certify themselves, but number one, it’s expensive to do, and while CRM can offer financial support for this, there are lots of steps which need to be taken. Palenques (distilleries) need to be certified, you have to certify where your agave is coming from and some just don’t want to change their production methods to meet criteria.
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“The CRM has also been more dili- gent when it comes to ensuring non- certified producers aren’t labelling themselves as mezcal. The body was likely involved in the establishment of Nom-199 and would have loved to have regulated who could use the words ‘agave’ or ‘Maguey’ because it would have empowered its position. That said, it’s hard to know whether it was in favour of or against the implementation of Nom-199.
“I think what Nom-199 was really doing was protecting people from poorly made spirits and aligning itself to tax all alcohol producers in Mexico, so I don’t think it’s over just yet.”
It appears that with the threat of broad and sweeping regulations now looming for the Mexican beverage industry, such as Nom-199, it’s the producers that currently sit under the various DOs which have the advantage. However, there’s nothing officially stop- ping the development of new ones.
Cross adds: “It will be interesting to see if the threat which Nom-199 caused to smaller brands will catapult groups of small producers to work together and establish new appellations. That would take an awful lot of organisation and money and they would then have to hope they got recognised by other markets around the world, but it’s certainly an option to consider.”
Around the world DOs and Geographical Indicators are established to not only protect the traditional production methods of a particular spirit, but to guarantee quality and strong regulation.
However, it feels like in Mexico, with so many conflicts of interest between the government, the regulatory bodies and the destilados de agave producers, the development of DOs has become more about brand management rather than protecting the traditions of mezcal. In short, mezcal needs to sort out these internal discrepancies in order to fully reflect the diversity of the category on a global level.
