We spent a very nice afternoon yesterday at the Ruta de Mezcal tasting in Tres’ back room along with a lot of people we know in and around the industry as well as plenty of new faces. There were fantastic new haircuts, smashing facial hair stylings, new mezcals, cocktails galore, a spit roasted pig, and plenty of other hijinks.
Highlights included
- El Jolgorio’s SF coming out party: While they’ve been busy making the scene in NY and many other ports of call in North America this was the first time most San Franciscans had a chance to try their line up. Like Vago, El Jolgorio has a wide launch, 10 bottles, and most of them come from silvestres. Their distinctive illustrated labels are quite something.
- Mezcal Vago is really hitting the scene for the first time. They’ve been on the market for a few months now but it’s the first tasting where we were able to drink their mezcal side by side with everything else. Quite a nice contrast.
- Tosba had the unreleased Tobala out on their table. Once it’s released definitely track it down. Plus they’re all legit and shit now with Elisandro Gonzalez and David Gallardo of Lolo decked out in monogrammed shirts. Don’t worry, it hasn’t gone to their heads.
- Wahaka showed off their tiny bottles which are an ideal commercial format for mezcal. A 750ml bottle can be intimidating but the trio of 200 ml bottles in a box replete with two vaso veladora make for a perfect gift or self contained party. You can find them at K&L.
- Cocktails were big: Nearly every brand presented something special along side their straight tasting which tells you tons about how a lot of mezcal is being served. We also heard plenty of bar managers and caterers at the tasting talking about cocktails so that side of the business seems to be on the move.
- Hidden attractions: While there were few truly new mezcals out on the tables we tasted four (two arroqueños, a lovely herb and spice (yum cardamom), and a new Alipus which are soon to be released and just missed out on another. Suffice to say: If we could speed up the permitting process in Mexico everyone would be in mezcal heaven right now. We’re all just going to have to be patient but that taste of heaven is just around the corner, stay tuned.
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