Mezcal Cocktails, Aguas Frescas, and our Michelada

I’ve known mezcal as long as I’ve been alive.

Ask any Oaxaqueño what mezcal means to them, and they will give a similar answer. They may have a family member who distills it or is involved with it in one way or an other. My great-grandfather made mezcal, my grandfather made mezcal, all of my uncles make mezcal, and my father used to have a mezcal brand in Oaxaca as well. My family’s life has always revolved around mezcal.

My dad had one of the first branded mezcal shops in Oaxaca in a little tourist town close to the city named El Tule, known as the home of the oldest tree in the world. My sister Paulina and I were responsible for the shop when my dad was out delivering mezcal. I remember how my dad would take the mezcal out of the barrels and transfer it into bottles using a cutoff water hose. He would suck on the hose and suck in the mezcal, and then he would let it go inside the bottles. I remember trying to do that once and mezcal came out of my nose and ears! That’s when I first learned the power of mezcal.