Mexican whiskey has been finding its way into some of the country’s most interesting bars Whiskeys produced in Mexico generally use Mexico’s favorite grain: corn Oaxaca-based distiller Sierra Norte takes this focus a step further by focusing on individual species of maize Their fascinating range of spirits is distilled from locally grown heirloom corn Sierra Norte’s selection currently showcases six expressions made from carefully selected corn cobs: black the last of which comes from corn that grows with multi-colored cobs Typically the expressions are finished at 45 percent after two years in toasted French oak barrels Corn has been grown in Oaxaca for thousands of years and is the basis of much of the traditional diet Therefore it is exciting that whiskey brands like Sierra Norte are finally emerging from the region sharing the rich and delicious flavor of Oaxaca’s corn whiskey with the world Founder Douglas French is better known for his mezcal brand Scorpion which he launched in the mid-1990s with the help of a team of local women Since then Scorpion has been produced at their distillery in San Agustín de las Juntas French and his team began to explore distilling other Oaxacan products French met farmers from the Sierra Norte selling different colored corn cobs He planted some of the grains in his own fields and shared the outcome with local growers Now there are several producers he can buy the grains from The Sierra Norte distillery is located in San Agustín bursting at the seams with flowers and young agave plants Literally tons of old industrial textile machine parts have been repurposed into sculptures and plant pots A post shared by Sierra Norte Mexican Whiskey (@sierra_norte_whiskey) There is also some rustic but impressive equipment for the production of mezcal and now whiskey Alongside the big copper pots used for distillation members of the Sierra Norte team go through hundreds of cobs of corn Manager Rogelio Hernández Vez explains that to develop the Scorpion mezcal distillery for whiskey and new pot stills were added to the distillation area.” The corn is then fermented in stainless steel tanks for around five days At this stage malted barley is added to the corn; approximately 15 percent barley to 85 percent corn barley has a higher sugar content than corn and is needed to stimulate the fermentation first in stainless steel and then in copper alembic stills Initially coming out of the still the liquid is clear What French describes as ‘moonshine.’ At this stage the whiskey has a rich smell and taste of the corn itself French is passionate about barrel aging and has an extensive range of barrel-aged mezcal Both are aged in 230-liter French oak barrels which he originally brought over from France to Oaxaca via the port of Veracruz Charring the inside of the barrel breaks down the structure of the oak The barrels are laid to rest in concrete cellars In whiskey this evaporation during aging is referred to as the “angel’s share.” According to French Sierra Norte whiskey is aged in these cellars for two years The first barrels of whiskey were filled in 2014 and the Sierra Norte brand officially launched in 2016 whiskey produced in Mexico is made from corn and follows United States regulations This is partly due to much of the product being made to export The distiller began producing a mere 250 liters but now produce 8,000 liters and are enjoying global success exporting Oaxacan whiskey to more than 12 countries president of multi-country whiskey tasting club Drammers says the organization’s international members have shown an interest in the new wave of Mexican corn whiskeys “We actually bought three single barrels from [Sierra Norte]: a green corn whiskey a rainbow corn whiskey and a yellow corn whiskey.” ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC 22 members of Sol Rojo announced that they were acquitted of the charges against them after three years of a judicial process marked by irregularities The group was legally represented by human rights defender and lawyer Dr human rights defender and university professor Ernesto Sernas García disappeared in San Agustín de las Juntas His disappearance coincides with a decisive moment in a criminal procedure against 23 activists he is legally representing Ernesto Sernas Garcia is a Constitutional Law professor at Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca and had been legally representing 23 activists that were arbitrarily detained in 2015 and accused of terrorism and carrying explosives the criminal procedure against them is ongoing Ernesto Sernas Garcia was about to submit evidence that could have proved irregular criminal procedures and human rights violations against the 23 activists His work was essential to the present outcome Ernesto Sernas Garcia is a Constitutional Law professor at Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca He had been legally representing the 22 members of Sol Rojo just before submitting the evidence that resulted in the acquittal of the activists the 22 activists members of Sol Rojo announced that they were acquitted of the charges of terrorism and carrying of explosives filed against them on 7 June 2015 when they were arbitrarily arrested for participating in a peaceful demonstration The criminal procedures following the arrest were marked by irregularities and human rights violations of the defendants Ernesto Sernas Garcia had gathered key evidence that proved the innocence of the Sol Rojo members and demonstrated the pattern of criminalisation against them On 28 September 2018, the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) issued an urgent action  to the Mexican State on the disappearance of Ernesto Sernas Garcia urging the Mexican authorities to carry out a thorough investigation The CED also requested protection measures for Ernesto Sernas Garcia’s family and for members of Sol Rojo the defender’s family has not received information regarding progress in the investigation into his disappearance from the Mexican authorities View the Urgent Appeal Local human rights organisations have criticised the government for its lack of a meaningful response to Dr Ernesto Sernas Garcia’s family about having opened an investigation and has not publicly addressed the disappearance The lack of effective investigations into attacks against human rights defenders and the failure to sanction the perpetrators and provide adequate protection has generated a climate of impunity that prevents human rights work and provides an opportunity for attacks to be carried out According to reports provided by local organisations Oaxaca is the second most dangerous state to carry out human rights work and responsible for almost 60% of all recorded attacks against women human rights defenders in Mexico there have been at least 28 attacks against human rights defenders in Oaxaca including three killings of indigenous defenders Front Line Defenders is concerned about the disappearance of Dr as it believes his disappearance is linked to his legitimate human rights activities Front Line Defenders expresses further concern at the climate of impunity and the lack of a safe environment for human rights defenders in Mexico Designed and built by Giant Rabbit 1108 Defenders-at-Risk Active Cases Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker a shepherd found a wild lily growing in what today is San Agustín de las Juntas When digging to collect the flower by its root royal head is today the city’s official emblem This foundational story is exemplary of Oaxaca a magical land inhabited by magical people where the geographies of language and biodiversity intertwine enveloping and nourishing one other over millennia These all evolve together while sharing the same spaces and the same challenges — animate and inanimate — that humanity faces today in its efforts to save our blue planet It’s a human-nature communion so profound that the Zapotecs here — the Cloud People as they call themselves — believed that they descended from rocks Oaxaca’s land is the cosmic daughter of a complex geological history That history has sculpted archetypal symbols on its topography and on the minds of its people shaping a limitless range of landscapes — from the Pacific coast and through dry tropical forest; through scrublands temperate pine and oak forests; and into the triumphant ascent into the cloud forests of the Cerro Nube (Cloud Hill) at 3,720 meters above sea level It is the land of the Mixtec princes Tres Pedernal the incarnation of the values of Mexico’s indigenous women It is the land in which Los Chimalapas lies — that breathtaking half a million hectare home of Mexico’s last remaining intact tropical forest which unfurls across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Oaxaca is the exquisite outcome of an assortment of natural blessings that have encouraged adaptive radiation (i.e. rapid evolutionary species diversification) speciation (when nature creates a new offshoot species) and an extraordinary mix of flora and fauna that has blended elegantly with indigenous peoples and languages The state’s name comes from huaxyácac (“in the nose of the guaje plants” in the Náhuatl language) a native tree with white flowers and red and green pods (the three colors of the Mexican flag before that flag even existed) that conceal tasty seeds Tepeaca and Antequera; but the Náhuatl won over the Spanish and today it continues to be proudly called Oaxaca a wide variety of indigenous peoples have spread and flourished in these diverse environments: the Zapotec mestizos and Spanish thriving together on this tricolor nose of guajes more than 4,000 indigenous communities in Oaxaca speak 157 languages More than 8,400 species of plants (40% of all the plants in Mexico) and 4,500 species of animals (half of the country’s vertebrates and 19% of its invertebrates) make Oaxaca Mexico’s most bioculturally diverse (meaning both highly biologically and culturally diverse) state This is why Oaxaca is a biocultural planetary treasure It’s also why there exists no gastronomy like Oaxaca’s: seven multicolored moles the hearty beef and bean soup caldo de gato the ancestral drink pozonque and Oaxaca’s version of the tostada known as memelas to appease everyone’s alcoholic and nonalcoholic thirst of which 418 are ruled by the “uses and customs,” an autochthone form of self-governance Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz and Teotitlán (meaning among the houses of God in Náhuatl) de Flores Magón blow the minds of all travelers Oaxaca is so desirable that even the souls of those who die choose to hang around after their bodies have long gone the souls of all those who were born in Oaxaca and passed away — including its most famous artists dictators and anarchist journalists — wander the graveyards and streets and may reveal themselves to the living If you find yourself in Oaxaca city on that day and you walk the streets at night you may encounter the souls of Oaxaca’s two most celebrated and loved Zapotec painters: Francisco Toledo (and his magical erotic animals) who succeeded in preventing a McDonald’s from opening on the capital’s zócalo; and Rufino Tamayo whom you will see carrying his mural Day and Night which symbolizes the struggle between daytime (the feathered serpent) and nighttime (the tiger) José Vasconcelos and Andrés Henestrosa; but they will reveal themselves only if you have read at least one of their books Whether you like their music and voices or not you will certainly encounter the souls of violinist-pianist Macedonio Alcalá performing his waltz and Oaxaca’s de facto anthem Chuy Rasgado and José López Alavés singing “Sabor a Mí,” “Naela” or “Canción Mixteca,” an ode to all Mexico’s migrants And if you care about the rights of indigenous peoples as president of Mexico he fought for the best causes including separation between church and state freedom of the press and the subordination of the army to civil authority — causes for which we Mexicans continue to fight hard even today And if you are one of those willing to take risks There you may have the opportunity to confront the soul of Porfirio Díaz — the politician the souls of the three Flores Magón brothers — fomenters of the Mexican Revolution who would be loudly heralding their anarchist newspaper Regeneration But if you chose to only walk near Santo Domingo — that matchless baroque temple built by persevering Dominican priests in the mid-16th century — try hard to listen to the song La Llorona that tells the sad story of the young Zapotec man in love who cried despairingly when her beloved husband was swept away to his death by the winds of the Mexican Revolution you might also have the chance to listen to Oaxaca’s five living hummingbirds — Lila Downs come to Oaxaca on July 16 and stay the two Mondays after Those are Los Lunes del Cerro (Mondays on the Hill) — pre-Hispanic rituals worshiping the goddess and protector of maize these rituals culminated with the sacrifice of a damsel representing the goddess rituals that many years later turned into the Guelaguetza a Zapotec festival thanking the agriculture gods for the harvest participate without any class distinctions The Guelaguetza ends with the Dance of the Feather in which the principal dancer (the sun) moves in circles to talk to other dancers (the celestial bodies) with diagonal movements representing the winter solstice and parallel movements representing the spring equinox That night was the Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) when local artists display figures that they have lovingly carved from leviathan radishes It seems like yesterday that I wandered through the streets of Oaxaca de Juárez young and alone while devouring with heart and soul a myriad of colorful animals houses and countless other exquisite forms carved out of beautiful specimens of Raphanus sativus offered to me as gifts by artists I did not know It seems like yesterday that I found refuge in a cold and somber church comfortably sitting near a bowl filled with holy water and realizing that I had just arrived in the most magical place on Earth • Respectfully dedicated to Josefina and other Zapotec women of white heads and rebellious hearts who initiated me into the magic of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and whose distant relatives lived there 10,000 years ago is a former senior officer at the UN Environment Program and the former director-general of the World Wildlife Fund-Mexico