bacanora is a Mexican agave spirit regulated since 2005 by Norma Obligatoria Mexicana (NOM-168-SCFI-2004). Legal to produce only since 1992, bacanora gained Denomination of Origin (DOB) protection in 1994. The ancient Hohokam people of the arid region now divided between the Mexican state of Sonora and the American state of Arizona had already domesticated several agave species for food and fermented beverages circa 1000 ce. See agave. Bacanora is named after a small village in east-central Sonora, whose name means “reed-covered slope” in the language of the indigenous Opata people of the region. The Opata and other peoples of northern Mexico have a long and cherished tradition of production of mezcal-type alcohols traditionally called vitzo or cuviso. The term bacanora was first applied to a bootleg mezcal made in Sonora and adjacent Chihuahua from Agave angustifolia var. Pacifica, sometimes mixed with A. palmeri. The DOB restricts production by geography and plant species; bacanora as such may only be produced in a few dozen Sonoran locales and must be prepared exclusively from Agave angustifolia. In addition to the restrictions of the NOM and DOB, bacanora production is limited but growing slowly.
In the latter part of the seventeenth century, Spanish missionaries and indigenous people in the region drank mezcal. Missionaries distributed mezcal and aguardiente to indigenous people to increase their dependency on the Spaniards. The beginning of the twentieth century saw the first important boom in tequila export to the United States. See tequila. At the same time Sonoran mezcal was also exported. Traditional markets are the major cities of Sonora and Arizona. Bacanora production was almost one million liters in first decade of the twentieth century. In the 1930s and 1940s, the proud tradition of Sonoran mezcal was prohibited; producers were persecuted, punished, and even put to death. Illegal production continued for almost fifty years until the creation of the DOB. During bacanora’s clandestine period, bootleggers sold poor quality liquors, and the product’s reputation suffered. These spirits were called pejoratively tumba Yaquis, or “fallen Yaquis,” after the strongest and most resistant tribal people of Sonora. Bacanora production remained illegal until 1990, and, as such, the industry is still young. In the Sonoran-Arizona desert, wild plant populations from within the local pastoral system have been used for millennia; however, conversion from wild to cultivated agave is a big challenge for the cowboys and ganaderos, or “ranchers,” of the production area. Research institutions and producers have introduced in vitro propagation and created pilot plantations.
As a kind of mezcal, bacanora is produced from the fleshy stems and leaves of agave plants and not, as has been reported, from the sap of the plants as is the case for the pulques or aguamiels of the central Mexican plateau. In traditional bacanora production, the material is cooked in deep ovens to convert the starches into fermentable sugars. After roasting, the fiber is removed from the plant material through manual or mechanical means and the starchy component set to ferment with water either in underground receptacles called barrancos or in plastic containers. Bacanora exists in four types, all of which may be diluted with water to between 38 percent and 55 percent alcohol after distillation. Closest to the original northern Mexican tradition is the
Bacanora’s flavors are directly related to the wild agave plants from which it is produced: dry, but sweet and smoky from the mesquite wood used for roasting. Water quality and still technologies are also especially important. In many cases, wild harvest and few added products make bacanora one of the most organic mezcal products of Mexico.
In 2005 300,000 liters were reported by three thousand producers.
See also agave; aguardiente; mezcal; and tequila.
Nuñez, Luis, Vidal Salazar, and Evelia Acedo. El Bacanora: Cultivo, Regulación y Mercados. Hermosillo: Ed. CIAD Mexico, 2008.
Nuñez, Luis, and Vidal Salazar Solano. “La producción y comercialización de bacanora como estrategia de desarrollo regional en la sierra sonorense.” Estudios Sociales 1 (2010: 206–219).
By: Ana G. Valenzuela-Zapata