A Budding Category, Mexican Whisky Celebrates The ‘Intellectual Property of Indigenous Societies,’ Showcasing This Key Ingredient

Mexican whisky is a celebration of corn. (Photo: Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

On Thursday, The New York Times published a story covering Mexican whisky, a spirit made from rare grains of heirloom corn that are native to the area, some of which border on extinction. There are over a dozen Mexican whisky distilleries in states like Oaxaca using these rare heirloom grains, and a burgeoning craft whisky industry is taking shape.

“Bourbon has been the center of the popularity and growth of whiskey in the U.S. for the last 20 years,” Gonzalo de la Pezuela, the co-founder of Mexican whisky producer Gran Maizal, said to the New York Times. “So why not invite people to try a high-end whiskey from the birthplace of corn?”

Though it could be easy to group Gran Maizal whisky in the same category as traditional bourbons, the production process is completely different. Gran Maizal is made with a pot still and is nixtamalized, according to the New York Times.

Nixtamalization is a process in which dried corn kernels rest in an alkalized solution, which makes them easier to work with while improving the taste. The whisky also spends months aging in terra-cotta amphorae. Additional flavoring may be added, but just a few handfuls of cured vanilla pods and cacao nibs.

“Everything that we’ve done is based on what was happening in Mexico thousands of years ago,” de la Pezuela said.

Though each craft distillery operates a bit differently, tweaking the recipes for their mashbills, the main purpose of Mexican whisky is to showcase corn.

“Every family has been growing their corn for hundreds of years,” said Jonathan Barbieri, a Mexican craft whisky maker in the area. “Corn is the intellectual property of Indigenous societies.”

Varieties of corn from the region include chalqueño, bolita, tepecintle and olotillo — varietals that grow in Oaxaca.

“When we talk about the incredible diversity of corn and the ecosystems it comes from, we tend to think about terroir,” Barbieri said. “But for us, terroir is about much more than altitude, climate, soil or intersecting biology. Terroir is rooted in the way things are done and, in the present case, the history and culture of the people who, by farming it, are directly connected with their ancestors of 350 generations ago.”

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