importers of premium mezcal - has seen firsthand the transformation of the American market. Todd Hallberg, founder of Metl Mezcal - one of the first U.S. are made in small batches by artisanal distilleries, which is what makes the smoky tequila cousin so intriguing to epicureans and boozehounds alike.
Thankfully, the new wave of mezcals making their way into the U.S. For now, tequila’s under-appreciated older sibling has largely escaped this kind of etiolating mass commercialization. Any drinker worth his whisky stones knows by now that tequila can be a truly refined, exquisite drink - not one to be shot and quickly forgotten with the bite of a lime wedge, but something to be appreciated, slowly sipped on and swirled across the palate.īut beware: Many tequilas that until even fairly recently were top-notch have felt the squeeze of mass production, cutting necessary corners to meet new demand and boost the bottom lines for their International Conglomerate Overlords. But much has changed in the last decade, with “super premium” tequila sales spiking 319% since 2003 (in total, 11.6 million cases of tequila were sold to the U.S. It’s long been pigeonholed as a magic potion that allows philistine spring breakers to quicken the slow, awkward mating dance from Señor Frog’s sticky dance floor to humid Acapulco hotel rooms. Since its mainstream introduction to the U.S., tequila has been scorned as the Agent Orange of the drinker’s arsenal - cheap, powerful and gets the job done quickly but with little finesse. So we jumped into our 4x4, hit the dusty dirt roads of the Agave Trail and visited a couple of distilleries to see what truly separates Mexico’s two favorite exports (not counting Dusk Till Dawn-era Salma Hayek and well-marinated carne asada burritos, naturally). and premium bottles muscling their way onto shelves at your neighborhood bodega, we wanted to give you the lowdown on what makes mezcal special and considerably different from its mainstream superstar cousin, tequila.
With high-end mezcalerias popping up in foodie capitals across the U.S.
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