I have a huge portion of my Dad’s family that are Mexican nationals in Monterrey and DF. A decent number came here to get MBAs and have settled. Most enjoy Mezcal and Tequila but prefer good Tequila. They drink it neat with an orange slice sprinkled with cinnamon. The combination of scents and flavors is really lovely. Give it a shot. It’s perhaps a hair more refined than sal de gusano.
This is the best Mezcal I have tried so far:
Go to cocktail for me is a Del Maguey Santo Domingo Old Fashioned.
2 oz. mezcal
1/4 oz simple syrup
angostura and mole bitters
For mixinng Vida is most used. Though I like Del Maguey Minero for mixing too.
If it is not roasted its not mezcal. Mezcal is smoky …
I love to get Mezcal cocktails, and they are the rage here in San Diego. Like the mules a few years ago. Was tempted by Clase Azul, but the $220 price tag dissuaded me from getting one.
The MarcaNegra releases of mezcal seem super cool
Lots of organic local small batch craft mezcal!
Not to mention a cool bottle with a dark handprint
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+1 on the Jolgorio and Vago recommendations above
The Guerro is great; has a vanilla overtone that works well with the smoke. I haven’t seen it in the US, but I brought home a bottle from Cabo and spent $35 on it.
I’m hooked on the Death & Co. “Oaxaca Old Fashioned” now and have been making them like crazy. I was using Casa Dragones Blanco with the Guerro above, but realized this might not be the most cost effective combination, over time.
So, I’ve started using the Del Maguey Vida mexcal and it’s great… especially when paired with Don Julio double cask, which adds a bunch of smoke up-front, as well.
Vago
Los Vecinos
Nuestra Soledad same family as El Jolgorio
Xicaru
All good mixing options too.
I don’t know what this is called, but it looked/sounded tasty (stolen from Kitchen Knife Forums)…
2 oz mezcal
1 oz Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
½ oz green Chartreuse
2 dashes chocolate bitters
Orange peel, for garnish
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We use Sombra Mezcal for cocktails. Especially love Negronis with Mezcal (instead of gin).
I recently bought a bottle of Mezcalero No. 22 (Don Valente Angel García) (Bicuishe)
It’s one of the finest Mezcal’s I’ve had. Intense and hyper-complex but ridiculously balanced with a velvet texture.
Good choice.
Went looking for a mezcal thread and found this one. Stopped in to Old Town Tequila in old town here in San Diego. The have a 20 foot wall of mezcal, and I picked up a Vago (they had at least 5 different bottlings) really great, super interesting stuff, I need to pay more attention to mezcal. Might be more interesting than a lot of Scotches. The one difference is that you don’t find aged mezcal, wondering how it changes when aged for a few years.
Haven’t tried Vago but k&l has three different ones for $50 each.
Mezcal ends up being a pretty expensive habit, but is a very rewarding one. It’s been priced into scotch territory, where there are a lot of very solid ~$75 bottles, but the really amazing stuff (in the US) is often way above $100. A terrific resource for this is mezcalreviews.com, but there is also some great discussion on a Discord or two. If you are looking more for cocktail mixers instead of sippers, there are great options well below $75. IMO, the variety of flavor profiles and styles within mezcal is one of the most exciting categories in all of spirits. Among the major issues right now, though, is how to sustainably harvest some of these decades old plants, and how to ensure these small farmers who make unreal spirits get paid fairly vs. larger companies sweeping in to markup essentially homemade product to $140 with only a small fraction going to the distiller.
I’ve found mezcal to be hit or miss. It could be that I’ve only ever had them in cocktails which might not be the best representation of their true qualities but I digress.
Still looking for a killer mezcal cocktail in San Francisco so if anyone knows of a spot, I’d love to know.
Make one at home. To this day, one of my favorite cocktails is a Naked and Famous
.75oz Mezcal
.75oz Yellow Chartreuse
.75oz Aperol
.75oz Fresh Lime Juice
Shake well over ice
Don’t tell anyone, but I usually just make it 1oz per ingredient.
That looks good, Mike; I’ll try one sometime.
I love lime mezcalitas: 2oz mezcal, 2oz lime juice, splash of Cointreau, sweeten with agave or simple syrup to taste. Serve on the rocks, with or without a salted rim. Simply perfect.
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