By: Adrian Piñon, Founder

Planet Mezcal

By now, everybody knows that mezcal can get you buzzed. Like any spirit, the feeling comes from ethanol, the type of alcohol created when sugars within the agave ferment with yeast.

During fermentation, natural yeast in the Mexican air turns sugar into ethanol. Distillation then concentrates that alcohol into the final spirit. 

When you drink mezcal, ethanol affects the brain and nervous system, creating the relaxed and tipsy feeling we associate with alcohol. Some might compare the relaxing feeling of sipping mezcal to the calming effect of smoking certain types of marijuana.

Let’s be clear, being drunk and being high are not the same thing.

Mezcal does not contain the psychoactive compounds found in Cannabis. The compound most responsible for the cannabis high is Tetrahydrocannabinol, also called THC. Without THC, a drink cannot create the same effect as marijuana. That basically means mezcal alone won’t get you high.

Now, when THC enters the distillation process, things can shift from tradition into experimentation, where a bit of magic and madness can happen.

Some experimental distillers, like maestra mezcalera Crystal Dalila Santiago Andrade, owner of Altares De Mi Tierra Mezcal, have begun infusing cannabis during distillation, creating spirits that blend mezcal’s smoky character with the psychoactive elements of the plant.

In some experimental batches, cannabis buds are placed inside the still during distillation. When cannabis is added, the mezcal can pick up herbal or green notes from the marijuana plant.

But, can THC transfer over and blend with the mezcal?

THC dissolves well in alcohol, but does not evaporate easily during distillation. Ethanol boils at approximately 173°F while THC needs a much higher temperature, around 314.6°F (MachTechnologies).

Because of this difference, most of the THC stays behind instead of traveling with the alcohol vapor.

This means cannabis in the still may change the aroma and body of the mezcal, but it usually does not transfer enough THC to make the drink psychoactive, depending on your tolerance level. 

“I once took a sip of cannabis-distilled mezcal at an event in Oaxaca. Since I’m not used to cannabis, I could clearly taste and feel the THC. Within a few minutes, I started to notice the effects. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.” – Adrian Piñon.

Travelers visiting Oaxaca, Jalisco, and other mezcal producing states in Mexico, sometimes hear about these experimental batches and want to taste for themselves. These cannabis-distilled mezcals can be found in small town bottle shops, tourist hotspots, and by word of mouth.

So, while mezcal alone cannot get you high, cannabis-distilled mezcal can unequivocally elevate your senses to new highs.