Where To Buy Mezcal In Los Angeles
Below please find select retailers for your agave distillate needs. We try to list retailers with a robust selection, so let us know if you have suggestions and we can add them to the list. Email info@mezcalistas.com with additions! Updated 3/28/2023
where to buy mezcal in los angeles
Inviting enthusiasts of all kinds, LA curates mezcal from small batch productions to world renowned brands for a mezcalicious affair. From beginners to mezcaleros, searching for mezcal flights or cocktails, you will have your taste buds satisfied and your mezcal desires fulfilled.
A James Beard award-winning restaurant, Guelaguetza has been providing authentic Oaxacan dishes since 1994. For those looking to try mezcal for the first time, a curated beginner mezcal flight will envelop you with famous spirits such as the El Silencio, Mezcal Union, La Luna, and more.
Inviting boozehounds with a series of creative mezcal flights, Salazar has a menu that will leave even the mezcaleros impressed. The flights start from a range of $28 that includes Agave 101, Mezcal Across Michoacan, and A Day at the Beach.
Going about their mezcal collection would be tiresome, so instead, we will shed some light on some of their cocktails worth trying. The ones that proved winners on our list include Margarito, Al Chile, Froze, and Chido Wey.
Boosting your mezcal flight with the Ofrenda upgrade for an additional $6 will land you Chapulines sazonados, seasonal citrus, sal de gusano, queso Oaxaqueño, Mexican botana pepita mix, and house made spicy sangrita alongside 3 mezcal options of choice.
We preserve the 400-year-old tradition of artisanal mezcal making, distilling on the premises of our namesake farm. Founded and run by women, YOLA Mezcal's all female hand-bottling facility offers direct pay, and we are proud to promote autonomy and economic independence for our partners in Oaxaca and across borders.
Upon graduating in 1959, Price returned to Los Angeles, where, at the time, no real art scene existed. He became involved with the boisterous Ferus Gallery, where his first solo exhibition was held in 1960. Throughout the decade, he incorporated what would become his signature biomorphic, enigmatic and erotic forms into functional objects like plates and teacups. Price also honed his masterful execution of internal scale and ability to craft tension between surface texture and colors. He spent six months in Japan studying pottery in 1962 and incorporated what he learned into his own style; he continued this practice throughout his career, finding further inspiration in folk art and Southwestern and Mexican pottery.
Mezcal Vago At Vago, we believe in walking away from the beaten path, losing ourselves in the hills, and searching out the extraordinary. We seek out small-batch mezcaleros, who for generations have been perfecting their craft deep in the mountains of Southern Oaxaca. Dust off a bottle and drink it in.
Hand-crafted by individual Zapotec and Mixtec farmer-families, Del Maguey introduced artisanal mezcal to the world in 1995 and celebrates the traditions of ancestral villages that give each unique expression its own rich, sweet and smoky character. A taste of place.
Real Minero is the brand of the Ángeles-family from Santa Catarina Minas (about 30 minutes outside Oaxaca city). Fourth generation Mezcal producers, father Lorenzo Angeles-Mendoza and son Eduardo work the distillery, while mother Doña Florentina looks after the bottling and daughter Graciela Angeles Carreño is in charge of marketing. They produce about 80 gallons (300 litres) of mezcal per month - all of it certified organic.Lorenzo and Eduardo cook their agave in an earth pit fired with oak and mesquite woods. Unusually, the Mineros use different wild or cultivated agaves, which are distilled individually or composed in the mash. The cooked agave are then manually shredded and fermented with wild yeasts in oak vats before double distillation in clay alembic stills with an 80 litre capacity. The Mineros are is famous for distillation in these earthenware pots, a tremendously laborious technique but which produces a very distinctive spirit. Often only 100 or 200 litres of these special batches are produced.
The Mexican postal service will not allow you to mail mezcal out of the country. Whether regular or certified mail, or the parcel delivery division known as MEXPOST, you will be asked the contents, and for the latter you cannot seal your parcel without first opening it for the post office staff to confirm the contents.
In terms of the tax issue, my own labels include all of the pre-requisites including my personal tax number. On one occasion only, over the past decade, someone taking the spirit on a plane from Oaxaca to Houston, was told by a United airlines staff member that she could not take the agave distillate I had bottled, on the plane, because the bottle lacked the tax sticker. The client vehemently objected stating she had purchased the mezcal in good faith and paid what was asked and so it should not be her problem. The boss was called over and agreed with my client that it is not the job of airlines to police such matters. The airline had no right. Perhaps the initial employee was looking to score mezcal for free if there was confiscation.
The wrapping-in-dirty-clothes tradition is still a good idea, but best to do that after the mezcal has been secured using bubble wrap. The kind with small bubbles is preferred for more easy packaging and conserving space. Of course the wine suitcase option is a reasonable alternative, as are wine sleeves, Styrofoam cylinders designed for transporting liquor, etc. My preference is bubble wrap because it is inexpensive and readily available, and enables the traveler to bring other items to leave behind in Mexico. Aside from clothing, educational materials for young children, toys and souvenirs from your homeland are always appreciated. You can always find the appropriate people to whom to gift anything you bring. I have often received a diversity of such items from clients, with my mezcal aficionados relying on me to ensure appropriate distribution.
The duty free limit for Canada is 1.14 liters (litres there) per person. If you were to fly into Toronto with 1.75 liters of tequila (mezcal is not yet a listed category) at 48% ABV, and the distillate cost you $100 CAD, the tax payable would be a whopping $89.89 CAD. However, since the early 1990s I have been flying into Pearson an average of twice yearly, with almost always over the duty free limit, declaring typically between three and five liters; not once have I been asked to pay anything. By contrast, a good friend drove from the US to Canada with a couple of bottles of tequila a few years ago, and was dinged for the duty payable. Discretion of the customs agent (and others in the chain of possible glitches beginning with leaving the state of Oaxaca) is the most important nugget you should appreciate from this article, not only entering Canada, but certainly the US and Britain, and likely elsewhere. Some countries (and jurisdictions, airports, etc.) are strict, while others are lax.
Aprendiz Mezcal Artesanal was created for aspiring mezcal connoisseurs and curious beings wishing to embark on the journey of traditional agave spirits. It is the perfect all-around mezcal, easy on the palate with a hint of sweet smoke, herbal notes, and a deep roasted agave finish. Produced by Isaías Martinez and his family, this hand-crafted spirit is distilled from 100% agave Espadín in San Juan del Rio, Oaxaca. Full-bodied and smooth, Aprendiz is ideal for those looking to design a creative cocktail or embark on a mystical mezcal journey.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of Oaxaca mezcal brands. A distillate once dismissed as backwoods hooch, this ancient elixir has been made by rural Mexicans for over 500 years. Only in the last decade or so has the world suddenly taken notice of this complex and smoky distillation and it is suddenly the liquor to be seen drinking if you want to impress friends and strangers alike.
But what is mezcal? And which should you buy so as not waste your time and money on anything less than the best? Here is a little background and a few tips if you want to be a pro at choosing and drinking Mexican mezcal.
The answer is no, tequila is mezcal. Mezcal is a much wider category of spirit that includes any distillation made from agave in any region of Mexico (although there is recent talk about creating a denomination of origin for mezcal similar to tequila or champagne.) Tequila can only be made from a single plant (blue agave), and only in certain areas of the country, most famously, of course, is the town of Tequila.
There are very few small tequila producers out there anymore, overrun as they are by folks like Jose Cuervo and Herradura, but there are hundreds upon hundreds of artisanal mezcal makers. With the latter, there are a few ways to distill (in clay pots, with copper pots) and a handful of ways to ferment (in wooden barrels, in leather slings) making each local mezcal not only different from its neighbor but also different from the previous batch. In that way, tequila is a much more standardized taste experience and mezcal is much more full of surprises.
Once distilled, mezcal is around 45 to 50 proof. Mezcales that you find on the market with a much lower alcohol content (like 400 Conejos, the mezcal brand from Bacardi, which is 38% alcohol) have a lot of water added to the final product. That might make them more palatable for some drinkers but serious mezcal lovers tend to go for 45 proof and up.
The worm at the bottom of the bottle, which in popular culture is associated with tequila, is actually a mezcal tradition. The mezcal worm began as a way to distinguish mezcal from tequila and was transformed into an added element of flavor, especially for older mezcal drinkers that see it as tradition. The worm, which is found in the agave plants, adds a touch of acidity or saltiness according to its fans. 041b061a72