Mezcal: A Can of Worms?

American conceptions of mezcal generally involve drunken college escapades south of the border, putrid liquids mistakenly referred to as tequila, and, above all, the legendary worm. It is this mere possibility of contracting some sort of super Mexican West Nile virus from a shot of mezcal that is powerful enough to dissuade most consumers from even touching that dusty bottled next to the much safer tequila. This is unfortunate because, in my opinion, the most beautiful spirits from Mexico are traditional mezcals, not tequilas. Read more

Tequila and the Rise of Sotol

Latin spirits are all the rage these days, and tequila started it all. While everyone else may have switched to seasonal drinks, Houston has seen 80 degrees five of the past six days. It still feels like spring here, and I’ve consequently had trouble shifting gears like I used to in Illinois. Texas seems to experience the same difficultly and has a tendency to remain one dimensional with its drinks. One drink that is, the Margarita.

The margarita; everyone makes them differently, and like some twisted unspoken competition, everyone makes theirs the best. This might be because it is a pretty hard to drink to mess up. Bragging about a margarita, unless it is something really interesting (hopefully my Mayahuel Fizz qualifies), is like a toddler showing off some scribbles in a coloring book. Sometimes, I just want tell these Tex-Mex restaurants, “That’s a pretty salted picture there honey, now can you please run along and get Daddy a nice Negroni.” But, I guess I’ll keep downing the “case-a-dillas” instead. Read more