Wednesday, June 15, 2016

A Possible Mexcalitas Zignum Flavoured Mezcal?



First off, let's put to rest any rumour that the Coca Cola Company owns a mezcal brand. Ok, the Coca Cola Company may own a mezcal brand but just not Zignum or El Señorío. Really don't where the Coca Cola connection came from but perhaps it had something to do with a company named Corporación de los Ángeles, S.A. de C.V. that was somehow involved in a merger between Coca-Cola FEMSA and Grupo CIMSA. It does appear that Corporación de los Ángeles, S.A. de C.V. filed a trademark for Zignum that was later disputed and won by Casa Armando Guillermo Prieto, S.A. de C.V.. What was the story behind the dispute? No clue. At one point Corporación de los Ángeles, S.A. de C.V. did own the trademark for El Señorío. AGPCH, S.A. de C.V. currently owns El Señorío.

On paper, Zignum was originally owned by Casa Armando Guillermo Prieto, S.A. de C.V.. El Señorío's ownership went from Bugarin Exportaciones, S. de R.L. de C.V. to Corporación de los Ángeles, S.A. de C.V. to Casa Armando Guillermo Prieto, S.A. de C.V.. Both of these brands' ownership have since transferred over to AGPCH, S.A. de C.V.. Further complicating things, AGPCH, S.A. de C.V. bought the Mexcalitas trademark from Bacardi & Company Limited. Then as you can see from the labels included above AGPCH, S.A. de C.V.  came up with Mexcalitas Zignum mezcal silver jamaica, limón, and tamarindo. Where exactly does a flavoured mezcal produced at an industrial distillery with a difusor fit in the current market? Guess it's mezcal's equivalent of bastardized cinnamon flavoured whiskey or flavoured tequila. And to think all this after NOM 186, NOM 070, and NOM 199. Maybe we should just adopt a "No" stance on such industrialization of agave spirits. These agave spirits deserve more respect for their ancestral roots. Besides agave is not quite the renewable resource people are led to believe especially without any strictly enforced rules and sustainable practice(s).