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The number of excellent Tequila and mezcal bottlings on the market has been increasing at an impressive rate, with producers bringing interesting expressions to keen consumers, as this year’s blind-tasting competition showed. This year’s Tequila & Mezcal Masters received a record number of entries So, I was like, I have to do it. It has to be me. I cannot let anybody else do it. So, I founded, I started the Tequila and Mezcal Fest in 2014 with the objective to educate the consumer and the trade and to promote the category of tequila and mezcal. Sadly 9 out of 10 people in the UK, if you mentioned tequila, they remembered those days at university. You know, doing shots of the tequila, which surely wasn’t a 100% good quality tequila. So, I invite your listeners to obviously try to sip and taste different mezcals from different agave plants in different states, because each one will be different.
Eduardo: I had everything in my mind, you know, so I went first to meet with four different producers. After that trip, I had chosen one. Then we started talking about exactly what I wanted.
100% natural mexican agave
It’s exactly the same way with mezcal, depending on the agave plant and depending on the climate conditions and the soil and the humidity of the land, the juice, this spirit that you’re going to get out of it will be completely different. Fortunately, mezcal is in a good position to maintain not only its image, but its traditional methods and heritage too, and it has no shortage of brands committed to this goal. For Moreno, Koch’s 14 years of experience and the fact that it is a fully Oaxacan brand are points in its favour. “We have learned to plan, with a focus on where the category is moving forward,” he says. “We have the necessary supply of agave plants to meet demand. We’re a brand that organically has an agave future.” A nice British twist on the Pimms cup is nice using mezcal is also a good drink for something long and refreshing.
Susan: Did you know the flavor that you wanted to have immediately? Was it difficult to get that or were they already producing it?Among the five Gold winners in this flight was Calirosa Tequila Añejo, with its “dessert‐like” palate and “dry” finish, with “some marzipan and nuttiness”. In Mexico, we have lots of wine and spirits’ shops in every corner. We like to drink in Mexico is a great and a huge business. So, it’s very easy to go to your local wine and spirits shop and it will be full of brands, from the well-known brands to the small producers. So, I remember seeing those brands in my house or in my family’s houses. You build that up the same way you do a Cuba Libre or the same way you do a Gin & Tonic. So, margaritas are very popular in, I guess, in the touristic areas. People at a barbacoa or a barbecue in Mexico, they will not have a shaker, or they will not be doing the margarita thing. and Salmiana actually is the agave that we used to make pulque. It’s a massive, massive, agave plant with leaves the size of your screen. It’s popularly called verde or green because the notes, when you drink or smell it, are like fresh jalapenos, spinach, kale, asparagus, you know, super, super green.
Eduardo: If you look up the bottle, it comes from the Huichol which is an indigenous group in Mexico. Ojo de Dios or God’s Eye is a ritual tool that was used to protect those people while they are praying, some magical object. It’s an ancient cultural symbol. The Huichol art is super strong and beautiful. The idea of calling it Ojo de Dios is to encase and to promote this beautiful culture. Ojo de Dios is basically these little dots in the front. These people were there praying they have this symbol in different objects. Susan: Well, cheers to that. I’m going to be drinking it right here in my house. Very happy…with you. Cheers. Thank you so much for introducing mezcal to all of us. It was really a lesson and I’ve learned so much and I can’t wait to try all the different regions and all the different mezcal. There are perhaps some lessons, even cautionary tales, to be learnt from Tequila, but in some ways mezcal is unique, and so are some of the hurdles it’s facing. The hype for mezcal is real, but it remains a fraction of the size of Tequila. According to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, in 2021 global mezcal volumes were 3% of those of Tequila. Eduardo: As I said, mezcal is made by domination of origin in 9 estates, so from Oaxaca in the South. You have Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla, neighboring countries, Guanajuato, Michoacán, San Luís Potosí, Durango, and, basically, those estates are part of the dimension of region because it’s where the two mountain ranges of Mexico cross, the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre Occidental. Believe it or not, people don’t know, but to be able to have mezcal on the label and to be certified and to have to have the hologram, each product needs to go through a very strict regulation from laboratory analyses, et cetera, et cetera.
In the oldest portion of the Tequila category, three ultra‐premium extra añejo Tequilas won a Master medal. First of all, Avión Reserva 44 received the Master award for its “nutty” aroma, and “moreish” flavours of “chocolate, toffee and citrus peel”.
In the 100% Agave Mezcal – Joven, a Master medal was awarded to Mezcal Artesanal Noble Coyote – Coyote de Amatlán. Athavia found this to be “quite salty on the nose, with sea aromas”, leading to “lots of character and funky notes” on the palate. The twist on a Margarita, the Mezcalita, is a great introduction to mezcal as it’s a familiar flavour profile that lets the smokiness of the mezcal shine through without being overpowering.This mezcal is a mix of paplote agave with espadin and tobala varieties. The resulting flavour is an explosion of contrast, with body and an acidity that highlights smoke and fruit.
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