When I was first beginning my mezcal journey, I wish there had been a book like author Anna Bruce’s Tequila, Mezcal & More. Prior to 2014, you’d have been hard pressed to find a beginner’s manual to understanding agave spirits. Anna’s book is that perfect combination of explanations in simple and plain language, brand and producer stories, cocktail library, and beautiful photos. It includes a glossary of terms and a very handy index that gets you to the exact page of the book if you need a quick explanation of ,say, pechugas.
For those of us who’ve been immersed in the world of mezcal since the aughts, when it began making forays into the US market and mindset, we might be thinking Why do we need a beginners manual now? But given how many people still have no idea what mezcal is and how many publications continue to use the tequila’s smoky cousin descriptor, I would argue that we can’t have enough! I’ve been writing about mezcal since 2012, and I still make it a point to buy any new book on mezcal–even if it is meant as a 101. First, I always like to fact check and second, I want to be up to date on what people are writing about and how we writers are meeting the needs of the market. Every day there is someone, be they consumer or bartender, just beginning their mezcal journey so the more good information out there the better!
Tequila, Mezcal & More was published in the United Kingdom and is intended for its growing market of “mezcal curious” folks. We can think of the UK as where the US market was in 2015, on the verge of a huge growth run. This is the perfect book to meet this time, with the added bonus that the writer has lived in Oaxaca for the past 12 years, photographing and researching mezcal. Anna’s voice is one of lived experience when it comes to seeing the world of mezcal and its evolution first-hand. It is why she is a long time contributing writer to Mezcalistas and why we value her insight on issues and producers.
I won’t lie, I was hesitant to read the book because I really needed it to be good. I know how much work went into it, and I know how stressful the process was. The last thing I wanted was for it to fall short. I don’t know why I was worried since I have been editing and publishing Anna’s work for several years. This is a solid book, and I am not embarrassed to say I learned something new—I did not truly appreciate or understand the story of the tlacuache (opossum) in mezcal until this book.Tequila, Mezcal & More is a great addition to any mezcal bookshelf and, honestly, it is a great reference book that any bar with an agave spirits focus should have on hand, whether in the UK or anywhere else in the world.
Other essential introductory books to mezcal:
- John McEvoy’s Holy Smoke It’s Mezcal (2014)
- Emma Janzen’s Mezcal (2017)
- James Schroeder’s Understanding Mezcal (2018)
- Eric Zandona’s The Tequila Dictionary (2019)
- Tess Rose Lampert’s The Essential Tequila and Mezcal Companion (2023)
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