September 10, 2023
I had lunch yesterday with my bacanora supplier who operates out of Nogales.
We met at Manuel's on Cave Creek Road and Cactus for the exchange. He also came bearing books.
Mexican Moonshine
Bacanora is a cousin to mezcal but is often lighter and less smokey. It is the traditional drink of the state of Sonora, Mexico (in fact it is named for the Sonoran town of Bacanora) and was illegal until 1992. When my daughter was in grade school she participated in Hands Across The Border, a student exchange program between Cave Creek, Arizona and Opodepe, Mexico, and while there, a local took me up to an illegal still in the foothills outside town. I have been a fan ever since.
It is Greg who has been encouraging me to do a Classic Gunfight on William Rhodes—real name—Billy Rude—I kid you not. Greg lent me a book by Ralph Pumpelly, who wrote first person accounts of his time in the Southwest in 1860-61. Ralph is the guy who told about everyone on the stagecoach losing their hats.
I love how some know-it-alls think this wouldn't have happened in the Old West: "They weren't idiots. They knew about stampede strings!" That's partially true, but when it came to Western stagecoach travel they were mostly newbies who had no idea how to prepare for a trip. And, to some extent this is backdating, giving these oldtimers crap for not knowing modern methods. Kind of like criticizing someone back in the 1950s for not knowing something when they could have obviously Googled it.
"It's not my job to give them the answers. It's my job to lead them to an answer."
—Fred Strnisa, 81, a teacher who has not retired
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