Ordinario

For such a complex topic, it’s natural that the vocabulary of mezcal is quite detailed. There are words for every tool, nuance, and step in the mezcal production process. In general Spanish ordinaro means ordinary, usual, low quality, cheap, or crude. In the world of mezcal production, ordinario means “the first distillation.” This makes sense because the first distillation is nowhere near as complex, integrated, nor complete as the second distillation. Ordinario is distilled again to make mezcal, raicilla, or bacanora. (Although some raicillas are only distilled once.)

Read more definitions in the Mezcalistas Encyclopedia of Mezcal and email us questions or ideas for future entries.