Like many of my posts, I try to hit upon themes that I hear about all the time from friends, family and people I meet.  If I had a bottle of mezcal for every time I am asked “What is mezcal?”, I would have quite a collection.  And I have quite a collection – see what I mean?

What is mezcal?  Why is everyone talking about it?  (well, maybe not everyone – just everyone who knows ANYTHING about ANYTHING!).  Mezcal is any spirit that is distilled from an agave – though not everyone can label it as such as you will see below.  So tequila is a mezcal, for example, because it is made from the blue agave.  What distinguishes mezcal is where it is made in Mexico, the production process, and the types of agaves used.  I go into depth on this topic in a variety of previous posts so check out THIS ONE from last August if you want more on this.

Now on to what I really want to write about in this piece:  Why Is Mezcal Happening Now?  There is not an obvious answer, and for that reason, I wanted to explore the topic.  So let’s start with a bit of background.

I live in NYC and have been a passionate premium tequila lover for close to 20yrs.  As the premium tequilas (and I am not talking about the only-margarita-worthy Patron)really began to come to market in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, I began to get deeper into great tequilas.  Then when my wife dubbed me a “tequila collector” I felt I had license to really go nuts, and the bottles really began to pile up!

But mezcal in the late 90’s and first half of the 00’s?  It barely existed.  I would dabble (and I loved it) when I saw a bottle of Del Maguey, but that was rare.  I am talking really rare.  Rarer than the NY Post front page without Lindsay Lohan and a bottle of Jack. .

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