In our June issue, publisher Dave Spanton took a trip through Oaxaca as part of his agave spirit tour with the incomparable Phil Bayly and Tomas Estes. Oaxaca obviously is all about the mezcal, and we checked out just what it is that makes mezcal the elemental spirit that it is. See below for a guide on identifying traditional, artisanal mezcal.
Products
The highly regarded tequila from La Fortaleza distillery have finally made their way to Australian shores, with Vanguard Luxury Brands adding the traditionally made, 100% agave tequilas to their portfolio in two weeks time.
Irish Whiskey or Scotch Whiskey? We hear the compelling arguments from both sides…
For bourbon to be labelled as such, US regulations state that it must be distilled to not more than 160-proof from a fermented mash of not less than 51 per cent corn and stored in charred new oak. But this still leaves a lot of room for different styles, as were to find out with the line-up of bourbons here.
Tequila Ambassador to the USA and creator of the famous Tommy’s Margarita, Julio Bermejo is close to the release of his Tequila L&J (Lili y Julio) brand. In 2006 Julio held a feng shui for the planning of the distillery, construction began in 2007 with the help of Felipe Camarena and an opening planned for 08/08/08, but was delayed…
Rum, Ron, Rhum — it’s the spirit that goes by many names, depending on where it’s found. Because it is found throughout the world — really, anywhere that has produced sugar has some sort of rum industry happening — what constitutes a rum can differ according to the local regulations.
The hot new NYC bar from Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog, have just taken their shop online into the interwebs. There you can buy your own copy of their wonderfully bound and printed “mixed drinks list” — the same one that they conducted painstaking research in compiling. It’s sure to be a resource in the future as much as the Savoy Cocktail Book is today, we know we’ll be picking up a copy.
Owned by 5th generation family member Guillermo Erickson Sauza, the grandson of Javier Sauza who in 1976 sold the Sauza distillery. What wasn’t part of that deal was this 100-year-old disused and run down distillery site just a stone’s throw from their old family distillery
Absinthe: perhaps no other spirit has held quite the attraction for writers that this green spirit has had. It is the spirit of writers, artists and vagabonds; perhaps this is why it is seldom called for in a bar. Taken with iced water or over lots of crushed ice, however, there’s something very refreshing about absinthe. It’s a little old-fashioned. It’s not a taste that someone new to drinking is going to like. Hell, drunk in this manner, you need to be a grown-up to like it.
Poor old blended whisky. In this brave new world of boozing, where ballsy ryes proclaim their 95% rye mash bill, of high proof spirits and super-hopped IPA’s, spirits like blended whisky can get a little lost in the noise. It’s not that the spirits aren’t well made — on the contrary, really, because the art of blending and creating a consistent product year in and year out is one of the toughest gigs in the business.
Mixxit Chronicles have returned — and their training session on Scotch and Irish whiskies have been a hit with bartenders in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. We popped by the session held last week at Sydney’s The Wild Rover and spent the better part (in more ways than one) of the afternoon sipping whisk(e)y and hearing the profanities pile up in an entertaining fashion.
Tequila is an “Appellation of Origin” as are both Cognac and Champagne. This did not just happen, an organization known as the CNIT worked hard to achieve this. The CNIT (Camara Nacional de la Industria Tequilera) or National Chamber of the Industry of Tequila, is an organisation based in Guadalajara composed of industry members who are distillers and producers of the plant and spirit of tequila.