Five Gold medals added to the tally, with awards given to “highly aromatic” Tequila Herradura Reposado and “soft, candied citrus, peppery” Dobel Diamante. What I knew is I wanted a product at 42% ABV because mezcal can be actually, you’ll find some mezcals in the market at 45, 48, 49, 50% ABV. I wanted a 42% because 40 will be too weak. I have tried mezcals at 40%, and I think you lose the complexity or 38 you lose complexity. Mine is smoky, but not too smoky, sweet, but not too sweet. easy to drink. You’re drinking it. You tell me how you feel it. A Silver medal was given to coffee‐flavoured Sierra Milenario Tequila Cafè. Two more Silver medals were hailed in the Tequila Liqueur round. El Sueño Watermelon Liqueur pleasantly surprised the judges with its “fresh watermelon notes” and some “light earthiness”. Silver winner Horus was likened to a “very well done chocolate cream”.

Make sure you have lots of good quality, very cold ice, or you can end up with something close to iced coffee, and always use freshly-made coffee. I make mine in one of those stovetop mocha things or you could use a Nespresso machine for the full Clooney effect. It is not the only brand focused on sustainable practices, as Jaye Iwanowski, director at UK distributor Identity Drinks, confirms. “At the luxury end of our mezcal portfolio, the brand owners of Dos Hombres have ambitious plans to hold true to their original handcrafted methods, with a dedicated focus on sustainability.” Dos Hombres was founded in 2019 by Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, with Constellation Brands owning a minority stake in the brand. Five or 10 years ago, nobody would put investment into research and development for Tequila, but now producers are in a position to start messing around a bit more, which means they must have confidence in the consumer.” Susan: To be honest, you gave me this one. So, of course, it’s traditional and it’s filled with mezcal.Eduardo: To be honest with you, in Mexico City, and I guess everywhere in Mexico, outside the touristic areas. We don’t have the time or the patience to make the margarita. You have your bottle of tequila, you have your bottle of a squirt or Fresca, which is grapefruit and that’s it. You know, you build it up. Exactly. A unique blend of the finest Espadin agave, hand-selected from the hillsides of a small village in Oaxaca. Dos Hombres presents an appealing fragrance and a rich taste that engages the palate, ensuring the distinctive smoothness of our brand. Chambers said: “This feels like a category where producers are trying to experiment and push the limits a little bit within the rules. It was a pretty great flight.”

The process begins by cooking the hearts of the agave for up to 10 days in anunderground ovenusing local oak wood. The cooked hearts are then crushed with atahonapulled bythe estate’s donkey chicharitoBefore distillation came to Mexico, native Mexicans used to drink a fermented juice from the agave plant. The agave plant is this beautiful, big plant that grows across Mexico. The fermented juices are called pulque. It comes to around 5 to 7% like beer. The name mezcal comes from the Nahuatl. Mezcal is an agave spirit made from any type of mezcal and that’s the best and the biggest difference with the tequila. And then if you continue going up to the North to Durango, Durangensis, that’s very leathery, cinnamon rubber. You know what I mean? Every time I drink Durango mezcal, it reminds me of when you open a box of brand-new leather shoes or leather bag. When you open that box and you get this aroma of brand-new leather, that’s how it tastes and smells, the mezcal from Durango, for instance. There were many brands selling in plastic containers with the name of mezcal and people really associate those bad quality or poor-quality products with the name mezcal. Thankfully the CRT and the different producers came together and said, “Okay, well let’s just start from the beginning. And let’s really promote the category in a better way.” Agaves grow on those areas in that territory. So, all those nine estates are a part of it because agave grows in those areas. Now, when you are looking at flavor profile per agave, it’s really very difficult because there are too many. Espadin, as you can taste here in this delicious mezcal, Ojo de Dios 42%, espadin agave is usually sweet and spicy. Mezcal from Oaxaca, they smoke a lot. They’re usually very smoky or you get hints of smoke on the mezcals, but then when you move to Guerrero, for instance, they have another agave which is very popular. It’s called cupreata. That is very fruity. Every time I drink a mezcal from Guerrero I remember that chewing gum, Tutti Frutti bubble gum. The añejo options in the super‐premium contingent were also impressive – with two reaching the Master standard. Sierra Tequila Antiguo was deemed to be Masterworthy, with its “brilliant nose full of earthy spice, pepper” and “very well integrated oak” that “beautifully supports the spirit”. El Mayor Tequila Añejo also secured the top Master accolade. Smith found “bright agave on the nose, salted caramel notes; great balance of spirit and wood”.

I think that is there is a before and after the Tequila and Mezcal Fest, because obviously people liked it. We were in the Financial Times; we were in The Guardian; people were talking about tequila. Obviously, it’s not only me. There were lots of people doing a lot of work, the brands themselves, I mean the big brands have invested a lot of money on promoting properly tequila and mezcal. Four Gold medals were also awarded in this round, including one for Gran Centenario Leyenda. The Tequila had a “silky, luxurious texture” and a “nice dryness” on the finish. The judges then turned their attention to aged Tequilas, beginning with a flight of Mixto Tequila – Reposado. In this round, two Silver medallists were discovered. Sierra Tequila Reposado secured Silver for aromas of “fruit, vegetal notes and a touch of pepper”, leading to “some warming spice” on the palate. El Sueño Tequila Gold also took home Silver for delivering “some grassy notes” on the palate, and a “nice spiciness”. Eight Gold medals were also enjoyed in this round. Among the Gold winners were: “vibrant, delicious” El Tequileño Cristalino; “nicely balanced” Teremana Reposado, with “green peppers on the finish”; and “unusual, distinct” Vivir Tequila Reposado, which boasted “vanilla notes and Bourbon barrel influence”. So, my mezcal is from Oaxaca, the two that I have right now. That was because of the experience of those multiple trips that I did to Oaxaca for business.Eduardo: Actually, the one that you have is even more traditional than this one. This one is quite pretentious. I will say It’s not close to saturation, but new brands will need to look outside of Oaxaca, where maybe 85% or 90% of mezcal is produced at the moment.” Tanner remained equally enthused about agave‐based spirits. He added: “I think we’ll see, perhaps like gin, in a year or two there will be a more ‘contemporary’ Tequila category with different barrel finishes and a more experimental level.