In the dead of summer when the rest of us were at the beach, the Guelaguetza, or sundry other trips the CRM released a new web site at mezcal.com. They were so quiet about it that we only really noticed last month. The site is completely redesigned to be much more consumer friendly, the old CRM site remains its old stodgy self while mezcal.com is building a bridge to the people that drink mezcal around the world.
This feels like the first step in a sequence. Credit CRM director Hipocrates Nolasco for hewing to the plan. In his 2015 state of the mezcal world report one of the ambitions was to develop a new web site presence after receiving the mezcal.com domain from Del Maguey. Along with the web site the CRM appears to be investing some energy in updating its Facebook page which is another good sign, gotta keep up with the Zucks!
The website is split into four categories: Maguey, Producers, Mezcal, and the CRM. Each is clearly a work in progress, the Maguey section is a list of the most common agave species with placeholder for videos about them, but the foundation is there. They’ve added photos for the listed producers and have an extensive collection of videos documenting the mezcal process like this one. If Hipocrates manages this transition mezcal will finally have a simple home base.
Everything is fully translated into English and Spanish but there are still a lot of missing features especially those that help you understand where mezcal is from like a NOM list and the more intriguing ideas about maguey tracking from field to bottle that Hipocrates has mentioned. Since legislation about what is, and isn’t, a mezcal is a huge issue I’d also love to see more from the CRM on its legislative reasoning and priorities. Still, we won’t let the perfect get in the way of this good: There’s clearly progress here and that’s something to appreciate.
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