Conversations in Agave – May links
In case you were not able to join us for our May Conversations in Agave series, please find links to the talks for you to enjoy whenever you want. Our June series is live, and you can still reserve your
Conversations in Agave – May
The conundrum of the times - how the hours and days seem to last forever and yet a new month has arrived
The Dia del Mezcalero Experience
When I first heard about CNI Brands' Dia del Mezcalero last year, I was equally curious and skeptical of what a trip to Oaxaca with more than 30 people in the industry could possibly be like. Rumor said rough, with
A new Mexican adventure
It's hard to believe that I am off to Mexico in a couple of days for some mezcal adventures. Advance planning always makes things seem so distant and then boom, the day of departure appears out of nowhere. A few
New mezcal tours for 2019
It's a new year so it's time to start planning your mezcal travel. That's what we always do. What, you consider that abnormal? With more and more people planning their travel around food and beverages, we just gave our tours page a whole
Trending: The House Mezcal
There is irony here. For eons in Mexico at bars and restaurants, most carried house mezcales, note lower case and not Mezcales. Someone usually had a connection through family or friends and offered them in glass or plastic jugs behind
How to manage mezcal tasting notes
[gallery ids="25328,25387,25388"] 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
D(r)iving deep into Ejutla
[caption id="attachment_6393" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Espadin against the dramatic sky[/caption]
A few years ago I was introduced to Francisco Perez who was traveling through the US promoting an Ejutla, Oaxaca based mezcal cooperative, Integradora Comercial de Ejutla SA de CV ICESA, and its mezcal brand, Forever Oaxaca. Our continued correspondence kept me abreast of the expanding cooperative, their changing branding (now Siempre Oaxaca with a focus on small production mezcals), and the addition of new lines including Banhez and El Ejuteco. Max and I were lucky enough to celebrate Christmas in San Miguel Ejutla last year, which we tried to capture here.
A sign of things to come? The Fancy Food Show report
[video width="1080" height="1920" m4v="http://mezcalistas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_7132.m4v"][/video] How's this for a bit of a non-sequitur; the Fancy Food Show? It's a great place to see trends in the specialty food and beverage industry, and since it is in San Francisco, not too much of a stretch for Max and I to get there. Having walked this showroom floor several times in the past, I can say it is important to have a specific focus, otherwise you end up stuffed full of a deadly combination of jelly bellies, jerky, cheese and prosciutto. Just saying...