March! We made it through our long, lonely winter, and have arrived one year after the whole world changed at a much anticipated spring. Salud!
The theme for March is featuring a single brand, but is more accurately revolving around a specific collective of mezcal producers, that exemplifies responsible agave production and sustainability: Banhez. I swear that Mission Mezcal Club isn’t selling out, and featuring single brands because we’re getting some sort of kickback. Banhez has a personal connection for us, as it is partially responsible for exposing us to the multi-layered world of mezcal, but also for deepening our knowledge of how the mezcal world works.
This month’s virtual tasting is with Alex Jandernoa, the US Brand Ambassador for Banhez, who was our tour guide in Oaxaca a few years back. He showed us around Ejutla, and introduced us to Don Gonzalo Hernandez, one of the maestros who is part of the co-op of growers and producers that is in the Banhez family. Walking the agave fields with Alex, and drinking from the still with Gonzalo and his family, was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and communicated the pride and provenance that goes into every bottle Banhez produces, and embodies the spirit of mezcal itself.
A note on the history of Banhez, and how their co-op came to be, in their own words:
Raised in Oaxaca, Francisco Javier Perez Cruz saw the hardship that followed families making mezcal. This was part of their heritage but the life was hard and unsustainable, forcing families to separate.
Knowing first-hand what it meant to leave family behind in search of work, he thought that if he could keep the hard-working families together and devise a way for them to work towards a common goal, they could be successful.
After retuning to Ejutla with his own family, Francisco was appointed Treasurer of Ejutla in 1996 and Mayor in 1999. He learned how to grow and harvest Espadín working with his brother Bertoldo’s farm.
His mother, who had started an agave nursery with neighboring women, taught him about the best conditions for growing strong plants. Both mother and brother passed away soon after, but Francisco Javier continued with the work his family started.
In 2004 he was elected president of the National Mezcal Council, and later received federal funding to establish nurseries and reopen distilleries around Ejutla. He founded the Consejo Oaxaqueño del Maguey Mezcal (Oaxaca Mezcal Maguey Council) as a platform for local mezcaleros and members of the industry to organize.
His work, inspired by his own family, has changed the tradition of making mezcal into a community, one committed to the quality of their craft, and raising one another other up. Today, the Banhez Cooperative of farmers and producers, unified by Francisco Javier, form the Unión Productores de Agropecuarios del Distrito de Ejutla de Crespo (UPADEC) and is run by his son, Luis.
The life of a mezcalero once meant inconsistent work, low wages and an uncertain future. The 36 farming families behind the Banhez Cooperative are changing this, improving lives now and for generations to come.