First Steps into the World of Agave

When I entered the spirits business, I didn’t know nearly enough about tequila except that I liked it. I had bottles of Patron and a few others before the good fortune that was meeting Felipe and experiencing life-changing G4.

As the tequila journey started in earnest, mixed with a heavy dose of cocktail experimentation, I ran into an appreciation for the Oaxacan Old Fashioned courtesy of my friend, first big G4 on-premise brand supporter and now part of the PKGD team, Patrick Timmis.

From there, a series of relatively non-descript bottles used in my cocktail adventures came through the home bar – Vida, Sombra, etc., etc. And while I was intrigued, nothing really had moved me beyond my exploration of basic espadin mezcals. Then Mike Moreno sold me on a bottle of Wahaka Manzanita, a meatless pechuga-style mezcal made with heirloom apples and herbs that added new brightness, savory and a little more punch. The journey started to take on some purpose.

The Bottle That Changed Everything

But there always is THE bottle that changes it all. The previously-mentioned Patrick had an extensive collection of all things Cinco Sentidos behind the bar at Quiubo, including a private batch of Chino. From Michoacan, from wild agave, fermented in underground wooden vats…the lot was a total of 300L. Not entirely sure how much their group ended up with.

The mezcal world changed for me with that first sip. Starburst and strawberries and if sparkle had a flavor jumped out blended in with a little funky dry cheese like a parmesan but balanced and not overwhelming. I couldn’t get over how incredible this was.

When the world came crashing down with COVID and the restaurant business struggled to survive and we all drank in our homes, the cocktails-to-go and ad-hoc on/off permissions came forward. When the dust was settled, I had personally consumed approximately 10% of that what came through Quiubo. The last sip was a very sad dead soldier.

But for all the experiences, learning and development of my palate, I really had no clue as to what really went in to making mezcal.

Lessons from the Palenque

Roll the tape forward a few years and visiting Carlos Mendez Blas at Palomo, seeing the family’s original palenque, horse-drawn tahona and feeling the searing heat coming off the oven as you carry and load agave, as well as his commitment to craft at the larger ‘artesanal at scale’ and ancestral palenques. Understanding the sheer amount of hand labor that goes into chopping the agave, loading the ovens and the artistry and experience of knowing when fermentation is complete and all the 1,000 steps and decisions that go into every bottle.

It still leaves me bothered knowing what the market keeps pushing for in a drive-to-the-bottom in the industry knowing the sweat and tears that go into the making of this elegant and complex liquid.

The journey continues forward, always happy to experience such amazing families and products we get to work with between Sergio and Ultramundo and Carlos and Palomo.