Raicilla Venenosa Sierra del Tigre de Jalisco tasting notes
Intro This is easily one of the most distinctive mezcals available in the United States and it's the fruit of a distilling process that is as basic as it gets. If people were distilling in Mexico before the Spaniards arrived, this
Chef Gabriela Cámara returns to Mexico – and why this matters
Chef Gabriela Cámara, whose revolutionary restaurant Contramar in Mexico City introduced the concept of sustainable seafood to the commercial culinary scene, is heading back to Mexico City to work as an advisor in the Lopez Obredor administration. Contramar is going
Ready for Tucson’s Agave Heritage Festival?
I'm excited to be heading to Tucson next week for the local Agave Heritage Festival because of all the luminaries involved and, well, it's Tucson and I'm excited to explore the desert. As much as California is agave country, the Sonoran
Agave spirits come to California
Driving down the road to Craig Reynolds’ agave roast out this past Sunday. I passed groves of walnuts, olives, and grapes all powered by a chunk of the big irrigation canal that makes California such an agricultural powerhouse. All of that along with the freeway that I was speeding down are examples of what makes (at least made, see recent debates about America’s crumbling infrastructure) the United States such an economic powerhouse. In contrast, when you go to Oaxaca the most basic things can’t be depended on, least of all roads and irrigation. And yet, here I was driving up a dirt driveway that wouldn’t have been to of place in Oaxaca to an agave roast that relied on native Oaxaca talent to make it happen. No matter how far you travel some things are fundamental, and especially so in the agave spirits universe where know how is the critical component, the rest is just dressing.
Are women behind the rising mezcal wave in Durango?
Ferron Salniker, Mezcalistas' event manager and special correspondent extraordinaire, recently spent time in Oaxaca and Durango, researching the changing and evolving roles of women in the food and spirits world. This is the first of a series of articles. “The sky
Oaxaca in a box: The Maguey Melate project
Maguey Melate is a new idea on the mezcal scene, a subscription service for small batch mezcals that will get you some of those small batch mezcals that you can't find outside of Oaxaca delivered to your doorstep here in the US. but it’s so much more because the bottles come packaged in a beautiful wooden box with a special print and four cups. This could easily be your traveling drinking set but you’ll probably feel such a strong proprietary feeling for it that you’ll leave it at home on the shelf as that special show it off feature of your bar.
Mexico in a Bottle Chicago Here We Come
We're just three weeks away from Mexico in a Bottle Chicago and we've put together a whole bunch of great programming, both in and out of the event. Chicago Rum Fest is Saturday, April 27th at Logan Square Auditorium and we are
Mezcal Mal Bien Espadin – Juan Hernandez Mendez
Welcome to the new wave of mezcals. Wait, this is the old wave but it’s hitting us today. Which means that people like Ben Scott, the importer of Mezcal Mal Bien and Lalocura, is recognizing the old way of making mezcal batch by batch and bringing that culture to us here in the United States and the world.
Abocado
Abocado not avocado, let's get that straight right out of the chute. They're vastly different words for vastly different things. Abocado is one of those funny words that has vastly different meanings depending on the context. In the word of
Durango is not Oaxaca, and that is just fine
This is the second of a series of pieces about the mezcal scene in Durango by Tess Rose Lampert. Be sure to check out her first overview piece here. There is no denying Oaxaca’s unique magic, especially when it intertwines with