Nestled a couple hundred feet above Oaxaca Centro is the rural suburb of San Felipe. Seemingly teeming with expatriate gringos from all over the globe, the rather affluent neighborhood is incredibly serene despite its 10-minute proximity to the heart of the city. Here, thanks to the Mexican Camping book, we found the oasis of Doug French, an American from New York by way of Menlo Park. Doug moved to Oaxaca 20-some years ago and started a textile business, which, he claims, was bankrupted by NAFTA. Instead of high-tailing it back to the states Doug switched his occupation to the now high-class distillation of Mezcal. Oaxaca is famous for Mezcal, it has surpassed even the most boutique Tequilas as the cocktail of choice for Mexico’s elite and the booming mixologist scene.
Doug has turned his 5-acre ranch into an agave experimentation resort of sorts. Five different varietals of blue agaves line RV style campsites, apartments and small haciendas. The campground is “self maintained” by the occupants but the extra work is well worth the view of the city and the view into the one of the regions more important artisan economies. Doug’s mezcal (mescal) is amongst the best we tasted further witnessed by his almost 100% export to Australia, the US and Europe instead of the lower profit Mexican market. We were lucky enough to buy a couple of liters right from the barrels in his garage. We may have inadvertently made enXco a little business, as Doug is potentially interested in off-taking some wind energy from the state’s projects in La Ventosa.
How funny! We had a flight of Scorpion Mezcals at my birthday dinner (at which I missed you two!). It was excellent good yummy. Bueno.
Can’t wait till you guys get back! I can’t believe all the things you’ve seen!! Your eyeballs are going to have to just look at “gray” for a while to recover!
Safe travels!
XO
Jen