Over the next few years of visits, Cooper built an alliance with four villages, whose men produce the liquor and whose women weave the colorful straw wrappers that encase each bottle. Del Maguey's village producers use 100 percent agave espidin , which is grown for eight years before coming to harvest size. The heart of the enormous maguey is slowly roasted in earthen pits for three days. This step produces the smoky fragrance that distinguishes mezcals. After being ground into a mash by horse-drawn stone wheels, the pulp is packed into wooden barrels for fermentation.
Fermentation occurs through the agave's own yeasts.
Then, not one, but two distillations take place, rendering the final product as smooth as a Veracruz moon. At close to 100 proof, these mezcals are capable of mind-altering enchantment and are best approached with the same respect one reserves for grappa or aged rums. The ritual use of pulque was enormous. The Aztec's 400 gods of pulque were representative of the infinite forms that intoxication takes. Cooper says that this year Del Maguey will make a limited, 400-bottle edition of mezcal from wild mountain agave, tobala.