Mezcal Real Minero with Graciela Ángeles Carreño

Distilled in clay-pots in Santa Catarina Minas since 1898. Mezcal Real Minero, represents a family tradition of commitment and dedication to producing some of the finest handcrafted small batch mezcal in Mexico. We're excited to offer an opportunity to get to know Mezcal Real Minero through the eyes of a very special guest. Graciela Ángeles Carreño, director of Mezcal Real Minero, will be visiting Seattle for NW Tequila Fest. She has graciously agreed to stay an extra day and spend some time with us, discussing all sides of mezcal (biodiversity, sustainability, history, traditional processes, sociology) and tasting through Real Minero's wonderful expressions. We're also happy to welcome our friend Clayton Szczech back to Seattle! For those of you who attended Clayton's lecture series earlier this year at Barrio, you know that he is a wealth of information and an exemplary ambassador of agave spirits. Speaking of Graciela, Clayton says, "Personally, I'll just say that I don't know if there's a single other person that I think better represents mezcal." Now that's a person we are excited to meet and learn from! Many thanks to Clayton for making Graciela's visit possible. We have 30 spots for this opportunity. To secure your seat, please RSVP to stearns.tommy@gmail.com. Looking forward to seeing you all there! Stigibeu! On Graciela: Graciela Angeles Carreño represents the fourth generation of traditional mezcal producers in Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca. As the Director General of Mezcal Real Minero, she is responsible for and directly involved in all aspects of production and business of her family’s mezcal. She is a sociologist by training, holding a masters with a focus on Regional and Rural Development. Graciela was born into mezcal: it has always been the lens through which she sees the world, and her greatest passion. She is also one of very few women in her community who had the opportunity to pursue higher education. This combination of traditional and academic background is what makes her voice totally unique in the world of mezcal. Her academic training led her to cast her vision back to the maguey fields where she grew up. Things as everyday and familiar as the smell of cooked maguey were made extraordinary, and she began to see and think about mezcal in a totally different way. To this day, Garciela is one of very few women who are involved with every phase of mezcal production and in a position of authority. She believes it is her resonsibility to blaze a trail for the next generation of mezcalilleras, or women of mezcal. While she acknowledges the challenges involved in being a modern woman in a previously male-dominated industry, she is quick to explain that in her community, women have always played a fundamental role in the sale and distribution of mezcal, including during times of prohibition. Graciela is bringing not only Real Minero, but mezcal as a category into the modern era in ways unimaginable to her parents. She has lectured worldwide; from all over the United States and Mexico to Istanbul and Madrid. She emphasizes that everything she does is in collaboration with her parents and sisters.