The TTB refines standards for agave spirits
Just after Thanksgiving (perhaps just in time to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition…) the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the agency that oversees all things alcohol industry related, released its updated labeling and advertising regulations. It’s a very long and tedious 100+ page document that states in its opening summary: read more…
A misguided love child
Sometimes there are things that come across your desk that you wish you could laugh at the ridiculousness and then just toss it to the side. The was my initial thought with Restival Oaxaca, but it managed to spark a firestorm of emotions in me that I have not been able to put out.
The furfural and methanol kerfuffle
File this under blog posts that get lost among a pile of back to back events and a crazy fall…
In a move to be transparent, Del Maguey posted a piece on its blog in September explaining that the ABV for a few of its expressions was going to increase because of new rules around allowable levels of furfural and methanol in mezcal. Both furfural and methanol are naturally occurring chemical compounds and are in a whole host of food and beverages in the human diet. But like anything else, in large amounts they can be poisonous. In the alcohol industry this is particularly true so both chemicals have been regulated wherever regulations have been in place. read more…
Tasting blind is an entirely different experience
We’re always working on new projects and this year’s Mexico in a Bottle San Francisco meant that we had an amazing confluence of the mezcal world in San Francisco and it was the launch of the Mezcal Collaborative so we decided to set up a blind tasting to spark conversation and bring agave aficionados together. read more…
Can’t get enough of a whole week of mezcal
Alas, Mezcal Week 2018 is in the books. Yet another year of amazing tastings embedded in an excuse to get out there and appreciate the amazing variety of Mexico’s national spirits. read more…
Five years and still growing
This past Sunday Mexico in a Bottle had its fifth birthday in San Francisco with more than forty brands, more than two hundred expressions of mezcal (plus some tequilas, rums, and other Mexican spirits), great food from local restaurants, and cocktails. Let’s not forget about the art, the music, the tiendita, the symposia, and the fun! read more…
Mezcal Week 2018 is here!
It’s the week we’ve all been waiting for, Mezcal Week 2018, That one week where bars and restaurants put mezcal front and center in flights, cocktails, meals, and screenings. The goal is to highlight our favorite Mexican spirit in all its variety and our participants never disappoint. There are far too many to mention, check our home page for the full listing, but a few highlights from this year to get you excited! read more…
How to manage mezcal tasting notes
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- The Mezcalistas Mezcal Tasting Journal
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- An interior page of the Mezcalistas Mezcal Tasting Journal.
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- The back cover of the Mezcalistas Mezcal Tasting Journal.
When we started selling the Mezcal Tasting Journals we weren’t exactly sure how they’d be received. We certainly love them and have been using them for all our tastings ever since Tess Rose Lampert showed them to us. She’d developed the format along with Portland’s 33 Books Co. which has a number of other tasting journals.
One of the things that I liked immediately about the format is read more…
An adobe brick building brigade
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to talk to Richard Betts of Sombra Mezcal about the company’s foray into making adobe bricks from mezcal by-product. The idea is pretty simple, use viñaza and bagasso from mezcal production to make adobe bricks. Of course simplicity is never easy, and after much trial and error, they created a solid blueprint that others could use. read more…
When does a mezcal deserve to be a mezcal?
Is it really mezcal?
What is a mezcal? Who can label their bottles with the word “mezcal”? Those are the existential questions that bedevil this industry. For a second there we thought that they were more or less settled, even if you didn’t like the result, with NOM 70 this past spring. But now a new struggle has emerged between one faction that argues that the term should be applied to those who have a claim to tradition. But the profound irony of their stance is that “mezcal”, per the new NOM definition, now means less ‘traditional product’ than ‘anything goes.’ read more…
Mexico in a Bottle San Diego March 10th
Mexico in a Bottle returns to San Diego March 10th, 2019. Get your tickets today!