I think I sent you an IM? My internet was acting weird.

I would be a willing participant on a weekly basis at the very least.

a really cool one fermented in rawhide

Mental note taken.  As far as a mixer goes, could you replace the tequila with this and make a margarita or are they better uses of it as a mixer?

Mezcal is great in margaritas. Especially bottles with big smokey flavor. A cocktail I like to make is that I'll grill some fresh pineapple until it good and charred. Then I muddle it with pink peppercorns. Then add in honey and hot water to make a really great simple syrup. Then I use 2oz mezcal, 1oz lime juice,1.5oz pineapple juice, .5oz orange curacao, and the pineapple simple syrup to taste.

I finally realized that you had a bunch of awesome posts in the Sous Vide thread in GD.  I will definitely take your advice when it comes to recipes.

Any of you tequila folks try that Don Julio finished in Lagavulin casks?

I must admit, I’m.... tempted by that.

@Kitties-with-Sigs with this case it's more about what pink peppercorns don't have than what they do. The pineapple hides any subtle resin/pine notes to the pink peppercorns, but it can't hide the dry, dusty, over the top flavor of black peppercorn. So when you muddle the pink into the recipe, you are able to get some peppery spice and some of the zest flavor from the pink peppercorns without bringing in any bitterness or overpowering flavor. The rest of the choice is cosmetic, as the black peppercorn tends to show through any cocktail even after straining off the syrups I've tried to make with it.

@justsayin so you tried it out of a different glass? What'd you think of the difference it makes?

@WOAFP

where did you find that ceramic bowl that you drink yours from?

Any input on the Del Maguey Vida? My local store has is for $35 and it seems worth a shot for that price.

Those are called Copitas and are the traditional way to enjoy mezcal. It really blew my mind what a difference it made in the overall profile of the spirit when drinking out of a copita. After years of using glencairns it felt strange, but mezcal really doesn't shine out of a tulip shaped glass.

I bought mine from a ceramics artist in Colorado who goes by copitasdemezcal on etsy.

other traditional way is dried bowls made from hollowed out gourds called jicara, these can usually be found very cheap.

The Del Maguey Vida is a great standard mezcal. A lot of people refer to it as the bottle that gets them into mezcal to start with. It's not mind blowing, but is a really enjoyable bottle.

A great article in Wine enthusiast.

https://www.winemag.com/2019/08/27/difference-mezcal-vs-tequila/

An ancestral tobala for tonight

Throw it in the review thread! I’ll do the same this time next week

All three of us have the same bottle. It will be fun to see the different reviews. Try not to read each other's first.

How far are you from the lexington area? We can correct this behavior

Oooh. I've not had their pechuga yet. Give us a review in the review thread!

Have you reviewed this yet?
I saw one of these at the store and was debating on picking one up.
There is a tequila shop here in town that has tastings. I need to get in there and see what they have.
Haven't seen any Bozal yet down here. I haven't been looking hard though. Been busy fishing.

I'm coming home from Texas this weekend with some fun bottles. I'll add some new write-ups, and hopefully inspire some of you guys to try them out.

The big boys of the agave world

Currently have a bottle of Casa Dragones in the cabinet, no complaints.



But - was at a Christmas party the other day, and tried a new tequila I hadn't seen before, was pretty good, Tanteo.  Supposed to be available in my area around February.

Tanteo is made at NOM 1551. If you want to try other things made with the same plants at the same facility you have a pretty big list of bottles.

http://www.tequila.net/advanced-tequila-search/tag/tnom/1551/

@Bakke1

I had a bottle of the Don Julio in Buccanans and it was real good.

I bought one, but haven’t summoned the courage to crack it yet I’m waiting to be around some spirit savvy folk again to give it a go.

Picked this up today. Saving for a special occasion.

Best mezcal bar in kentucky

If you're a mezcal fan, this picture will get you as excited as it does me.

I'm entirely new to mezcal and I just got a bottle of the Montelobos today... I'm sipping on some as I type this....



It's amazingly smooth and the smokiness is super strong. I might have a new favorite drink! I'm definitely going to get some worm salt and oranges to try it as a traditional pairing.

Attached File

Welcome to the dark side. Agave is a blast to explore!

On a recent visit to Spec's, I asked for their opinion on the smoothest Mezcal.
Their best suggestion was to try Donaji. Any thoughts or opinions here? Thanks!

@WOAFP
Sorry to bug you, but I was wondering what you thought of the suggestion above?
I'll be heading to the store in the next day or so, and I was going to pick up a bottle
of the Fortaleza Blanco that you mentioned on the first page and a Mezcal. Basically,
what do you think is the smoothest Mezcal for someone who finds most spirits to be
harsh. I'd like to keep the selection below $50 in case it doesn't work out.

Maybe next time I'm through your area on my way to W.Va., we can shoot a game
of pool and try to educate me on some of your favorites - pool lessons for spirit lessons.

Thanks in advance!

Hey, sorry I didn't see this before!

Spirits, smoothness, and the harshness of alcohol burn are always a tough question.

Fun little science conversation below but I promise I'm going somewhere with this.

Alcohol interacts with a set of of sensory cells in your mouth and throat called VR1. VR1 receptors are basically the things that are there to keep you from hurting yourself with burning food. They naturally trigger and let your brain know something is warmer than you at about 110 degrees. Alcohol, lowers this to below 94 degrees, and actually convinces these receptors that your body temperature is burning hot. That's why most of us will discuss alcohol as a burn and alcohols that don't activate these receptors people will call smooth.

So, the reason I put that is to preface that the smoothest of alcohols are like that because they have so drastically lowered the alcohol percentage. While lowering the alcohol percentage you also lower the amount of the fatty lipids that are stored in the ethanol that carry the flavor influences from whatever you are distilling. This is where you see the big difference when you hear people reviewing alcohol and talking about all of those flavor notes. It's actually chemicals stored in fatty chains that get suspended in the ethanol.

So now to which ones I recommend. The smoothest of tequilas I know is the dobel diamante, and the donaji you mention is going to fall in that category for mezcal. They are both distilled to a pretty high percentage and then brought down to proof with a lot of water which leaves them soft drinking and very lite.

Now, do I like these agave spirits? Not really. To quote the man who introduced me to spirits, "alcohol Burns, take a sip, roll it around your tongue and mouth let it coat everything. Take a few good breaths. Do it again. And maybe one more time". What he was getting at is to let the burn coat your mouth, let it rest, do it another time, and then take a drink of something. What you will find is that coating your mouth let's the receptors get numb and you will start to be able to taste what's in the spirit. I like some of the big proof agave spirits because of how much flavor is in them. Big fruits, volcanic rock, briney saltiness, mesquite wood. It's like having a white wine, rum, and a peated scotch in one glass. They're complex and fun and leave you wondering what that flavor note is.

So, to sum that up in a way that doesn't make me sound like a crazy guy that loves booze too much.

Yes, grab the donaji and maybe even a dobel diamante instead of the Fortaleza if you are warming up to spirits and after a lower ethanol burn, but eventually give some others a try and realize the burn is natural and something you can learn to get passed pretty easily. Depending on the specs you go by another bottle I would recommend is gracias a dios espadin or their turkey pechuga. Both are very fruity, easy drinking mezcals with a little more flavor than the donaji.

Minero is always classic. Sad to see it getting so hard to find lately.

A little bozal love