Step aside tequila, it’s raicilla’s time to shine

A newish entrant in Puerto Vallarta’s tourism scene wants to shine a light on an old area alcohol that it believes has at times unfairly been denied its place in the sun.

Benomade Cultural Experiences in Mexico is affiliated with Atarraya, which produces the regional mezcal called raicilla that has in the past at times been frowned upon by authorities and tends to fly under the radar of foreigners vacationing in Puerto Vallarta but which Benomade employee Arturo Davila says is deserving of attention from those seeking a distinctly Mexican drink when quenching their thirst.

Benomade has tours aimed at familiarizing visitors with raicilla, the types of tours that Davila says makes its offerings non-mainstream in the Puerto Vallarta area.

“We are a new option in the city, it is a way to learn and get to know aspects of Puerto Vallarta and its regions that are not normally part of the traditional offerings as it is more cultural,” he says. “Raicilla is an excuse to be able to talk about other topics that have to do with the identity of this place.”

Davila associate Fernando Sanchez welcomes the increased attention on a local product.

“Raicilla has often been in the shadows,” says Sanchez, with Davila in turn suggesting the boom in tequila and mezcal have overshadowed some regional mezcals.

Benomade’s distillery tour, called the Ruta de los Montes, lasts 6 hours when visiting a tavern, and 9 hours if two taverns are visited. Distilleries or taverns that work with families close to the Atarraya and Benomade projects are visited.

“Walking History (el Caminar de la Historia) is the route where architecture and urban planning are protagonists and help explain phenomena such as migration, the landscape and raicilla itself. It is an experience or cultural itinerary that lasts between two hours and two and a half hours,” Davila continues. “Gastronomic Encounters, which is an experience around food, also lasts two and a half hours. This experience uses historical narration and food as elements to understand raicilla and its cultural force.

“Currently, the tourists that come to Vallarta do not know about this local distillate. That is why Benomade together with Atarraya are making efforts to make this spirit known.”

A guided Benomade tour includes visits to two distilleries where raicilla tastings will be held, and a visit to a plantation as well.

Benomade and Atarraya work with a specific region of the southern coast of Bahía de Banderas — which Puerto Vallarta faces — helping historical and rural communities, wanting to ensure that the “beneficiaries are above all the communities.”

Isis Hernandez, who has an agave spirits tasting room and is a certified tequila expert, says she has “fallen in love” with the Atarraya project and is quick to praise raicilla’s flavour. “What distinguishes it from other agave spirits is the terroir and the endemic agaves of the region,” she states.

Davila says he doesn’t simply want tourists to be introduced to a new mezcal alone.

“Of course I am proud of this distillate and of course I want to raise its reputation, but I am convinced that this has to be hand in hand with information and the enhancement of this distillate as a cultural product, not as a solely alcoholic product,” he says. “To the extent that one of the objectives of Atarraya as a raicilla brand and of Benomade as a cultural tourism brand that was born around this distillate is that to the extent that we can explain the various faces that raicilla has, we will be able to place it in the places where it should be, without ceasing to consume it in the localities, which is the first place where it should continue to exist, but give it the value it deserves on the tables of any inhabitant of this region, or of a tourist who wants to take it at home. country, but its importance as a cultural element is still linked.”

Meanwhile, Luis Villasenor of the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board acknowledges that not all people will appreciate raicilla. “It’s not for everyone,” he states. “It’s for people with good taste.”

More information can be found at atarraya.com.mx or benomade.mx.