An update from my travels

Crete

Fun in Crete; The Greeks love agave spirits and cocktails.

Shake it!

More cocktail craft from our friends on Crete, a wonderful place to drink, eat and be merry!

Raicilla Country

Raicilla, the lesser known agave spirit is produced in the Mexican state of Jalisco, the same state where 95% or more of all tequila is made. Here is a 'vivero', (nursery) where baby agaves are being raised by seed which creates a genetically strong plant since the seeds are created by cross pollination. 

This region is west of the tequila region in the coastal mountains. The seeds are gathered by hand from wild Maximiliana agaves.

Here the seedlings are ready to take to the field to plant.

Here in the fields the planting is done at random in "semi- cultivation" style.

Here are Maximiliana agaves growing in the wild.

Here is Esteban Morales who brings Venenosa brand raicilla to market. He is checking out a field of "semi- cultivated" Maximiliana agaves (often called 'magueyes') in this region. Why "semi-cultivated" instead of being in neat rows as in the tequila culture? The idea is that these plants will resemble more the wild plants leading to eventual taste profiles in the spirit closer to that of the wild grown plants. Think of "terroir".

Look it up if you don't much get it yet.

A portable bar. Esteban, Anselmo and Ruben , the raicillero with Squirt, cola and raicilla. 

What else do you need?

Earthen oven to cook the agaves.

Another example of how to extract the juice from the cooked agave.

Fermentation pit. Yeast -and all sorts of other things- comes naturally into the "mosto". 

Fermentation at another "taberna". 

Distillation. The still for distillation.

Distillation. Other stills and condensers , these made of clay.

Another oven to cook the agaves. 

This one is above ground and the plant hearts are placed directly on top of the burning charcoal.

Mother Nature.

This is the way the juice is extracted . The cooked agave is placed in the "canoe" and the "hatchet" is used to maul and beat the juice from the fiber by hand. Maybe you thought the tahona (millstone) was primitive?

Mexico

A break from Agave. A shop late at night in Tequila town.

Have a look at these blue tequiliana weber agaves. The way they've been trimmed they start looking like karwinskies. I wonder if their flavor as a spirit would be different?

Have a look at the history in this wall on the way from downtown Tequila to Tequila Fortaleza.

La Capilla

Jose Luis the man who first took Phil Bayly and I to La Capilla about 25 years ago.

Don Javier and his nephew Aaron receiving one of their 50 Best Bars in the World awards at La Capilla. Don Javier is revered the world over for being a model host in his bar. He says, "Everyone is welcome", I say , "Welcome by his love". Don Javier has been tending his bar since 1945. Let that sink in.

In the doorway in the soft, Mexican early afternoon, sitting on the floor against the wall is a figure that in most other settings is a pariah.  He is a Mexican man with down syndrome. In this place he is accepted, welcome as is everyone. I am again in La Capilla. 

I have arrived with Francisco Soltero –the Director General of the Mexican National Tequila Chamber – along with Miguel Cedeño- the Chamber’s Master Distiller- and Rodolfo Fernandez who Eduardo Orendain-also present- calls the walking library since he knows so much.  Rodolfo is a University Professor and an authority on many things, with a speciality in agave culture, including tequila.

Eduardo Orendain of the venerable “Tequilero” family is the current President elect of the Chamber. We have gathered in Tequila Town to present to Don Javier Delgado Corona, the owner of La Capilla his recognition for having won 20^th best bar in the world according to the ‘Academy’ of Drinks International magazine.

We are having a few of Don Javier’s signature drinks, stirred with his usual butcher knife. We are taking photos and enjoying the celebrity of La Capilla and its owner Don Javier. This is a matter of national pride, number 20^th in the world.

The talk is characteristically lively and Eduardo Orendain makes a dramatic announcement. He tells the group that Don Javier has served four generations of Eduardo’s  family in La Capilla, his grandfather and father when they were both young , he himself and his son. This is over a period of more than 66 years during which time Don Javier has been a barkeeper. Think what the world was in 1945 when he began.

Jose Luis Partida is with us, he being the one who first brought me to La Capilla more than 25 years ago. He has often reminded me that we are all one family, something I have repeated and retold many times to others.

I tell the group that for me there are numerous significant levels to the award to La Capilla. One is the recognition to Mexico itself another is to tequila since both are integral to the bar. The last and most important part of all the attention is that Don Javier is given appreciation for running a place that as he says, “Is about love”. We are benefactors of this love, the family that has gathered here, including the man sitting in the doorway.

Aaron making drinks at La Capilla.

Good times at La Capilla.

La Capilla. Sophie and her 'little one' getting blessings from Don Javier.

Again in La Capilla with Don Javier, my pilgrimage.

Puerta Del Aire harvest

During my latest visit to La Altena, Carlos and his team were busy harvesting the next field for Ocho, Puerta del Aire:

Puerta del Aire field, located near the La Alteña distillery

The red patched indicate ripeness in the plant, which usually means higher sugar content

 

The jimadores hard at work in the fields

 

 

 

The plants are around 7 years old and the piñas in this field are much larger than normal, some weighing up to 100 kgs.

 

Ocho Dos Tres cocktail

Thanks to Ted Gibson for the 'Ocho, Dos, Tres' cocktails he made for the 60 people in attendance at our Ocho paired dinner at Rancho Valencia!

 

Ocho, Dos, Tres cocktail by Ted Gibson

 

 Ted's recipe:

 

OCHO, DOS, TRES…

Glass:  Rocks

Garnish:  Grapefruit Peel, Sage Leaf

Method:  Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.  Gently stir.  Strain into rocks glass over 1 large ice cube or ice sphere.  Garnish.  Enjoy.

Recipe:  1.5 oz Ocho Plata ‘La Latilla’, .75 oz Sage-Infused Blanc Vermouth, .5 oz Grapefruit-Infused St. Germain

Origin:  Created for the All Agave Club dinner with Tequila Ocho at Rancho Valencia Resort, in San Diego, California.  I wanted to present an aperitif-style cocktail that truly celebrated the La Latilla Plata.  The goal was to complement and enhance the wonderful citrus and herbal notes present in the tequila.  There are only 3 main ingredients in the cocktail, but it was important that Tequila Ocho was the star, so the name ‘Ocho, Dos, Tres’ made sense…Ocho comes first!    

 

 

The Alcatraz cocktail by Christin Wagner

Thanks to Christin Wagner for this innovative cocktail featuring Tequila Ocho and Del Maguey!

 

 

Name of Drink: The Alcatraz

 

Glass: Chilled rocks glass

 

Garnish: Manicured orange peel

 

Ingredients: 1.5 oz Tequila Ocho

                   .75oz Lusteau Sherry

                   .5 Suze Liquor

                   .25 oz Vida Mezcal

                    1 bar spoon of Agave Nectar

                    2 Dashes Fee Brother's Aztec Chocolate Bitters

 

Method: Combine all ingredients in a shaker and stir. Pour into chilled rocks glass, then express an orange peel over the drink (save peel to manicure and place on rim of glass).

 

Bar: La Petite Grocery, New Orleans

 

Year: 2015

 

Story: I have always had a love for Mexico, Mexican culture, and all things Mexico related.  After trying Tequila Ocho at Tales of the Cocktail in 2014, I knew I had to create a recipe that would honor this fantastic tequila! Months of trial and error finally resulted in a hit: The Alcatraz!  The name pays homage to the bird that calls Louisiana home, the brown pelican.  The drink is brown in color which was the easy connection to make.  After doing a bit of research, I found that the white pelican of the northeast migrates through the Mississippi River Delta before its final destination in, you guessed it, Mexico!  Specifically this bird's final stop is in Jalisco which made the connection a no brainer!  I hope you find this story as fascinating as I do.

 

 

Christin Wagner with her Alcatraz cocktail at La Petite Grocery

Festival Internacional del Libro

Some photos from our presentation at FIL in Guadalajara last month, where we presented to a Tapatio audience about the status of tequila in British culture:



The presenters from right to left: Jesse Estes, Jorge Balbontin, Jorge 'Tigre' Ramos, Tomas Estes & Ivan Saldana



Tomas talking about his experience owning and operating Mexican bars across Europe and Australia over the last 40 years





Ivan (right) studied for his doctorate degree (in Agave!) in the UK



Jesse talking about his experiences working with tequila in London bars

Single Barrel tasting notes

Samples of barrels #708, 709, 711

"Rancho La Magueyera"

 

This ranch is in the venerable “Los Altos” de Jalisco. It is by two other ranches, "Los Mangos" and "La Rivera" that have been harvested and made into Ocho. It is at 1600 meters, has grey soil and a ‘terroir’ similar –in general- to that of Tequila Valley. The land is slightly sloping from north to south making it south facing, catching the full effects of the sun. There are Guamuchile trees that bear edible fruit. This tree is specific to this location and grows wild in the clay soil.

Magueyera Single Barrel

 

Age- 445 days or 1 year 80 days in old 200 liter American, white oak

 

Extremely pale

 

Barrel #708, ABV- 53.7%

 

nose- candied jujubee fruit, slight cedar, black tea, dry herbs, mint, coffee, vanilla

 

palate- cedar, coffee, vanilla, cream custard, red stone fruits

 

Barrel #709, ABV- 53.6%

 

nose- apricot, seaweed, iodine, custard, slight oak, earth

 

palate- bright , fresh, apricot, oak, cooked agave, coffee, tiramisu, anis, pepper, tannic dryness at the finish

 

Barrel #711, ABV- 54%

 

nose- lime zest acidity, orange, heated cooking oil, white chocolate, green herbs, egg yolks

 

palate- menthol, red stone fruits, red berries, accents of old tropical wood, light and lively, custard, pineapple

My Pacifico Story, "Never love anybody who treats you like you're ordinary."

Photo above from left to right, Chris, Josh and Jodie in 'El Nivel'

 Jodie and Josh have become dear friends. When I experienced her meeting Chris Watson- a very dear friend for many years- I asked her to write it down.
Below you will find Jodie's story.
Tomas


My Pacifico Story

“Never love anybody who treats you like you’re ordinary”.

I don’t believe Oscar Wilde was talking specifically about my love affair with Café Pacifico when he wrote those words, but I couldn’t phrase it in a more astute way. As with all great love stories, it had an unconventional beginning. It was a quiet Sunday evening in Covent Garden, with only a handful of tourists still on the street. I had read an excellent review of Café Pacifico, and as a complete foodie I just couldn’t leave without visiting. When my boyfriend, Josh and I arrived at the discreet alley-like street that plays host to the cantina, we began to think we had made a mistake coming this late in the evening. It just seemed too quiet. It wasn’t until we opened the door to the cantina that we realised just how wrong we had been.

I would compare my experience that night to seeing colour for the first time. The sounds and smells were comfortingly overwhelming, and every seat was filled with excited characters. There was no demographic - both old and young, businesspeople in suits to tourist shoppers. We fit in. Everyone fit in.

The host must have seen the look on our faces, as he quickly realised that it was our first time. He talked to us like he was greeting an old friend, and after being shown to our seats I had already felt like I had been there a thousand times. The rest of the night passed in euphoric blur; but it was that evening that Josh and I decided to move to London. If this is what the Capital had to offer, we were wasting our lives being anywhere else.

Fast forward a couple of years, and we were finally moving into our little box apartment in Notting Hill. Naturally we celebrated moving to London at Café Pacifico - but the celebrations haven’t stopped since we have arrived! Any little thing worth celebrating and we find ourselves back at the restaurant with our extended Pacifico family.

This, of course, is where the story could have ended.

Whilst having dinner in the cantina one evening, we were told that a new bar and restaurant had opened up in Covent Garden, specialising in agave spirits, cocktails and Mexican tapas. Anything that had a touch of Pacifico charm was worth visiting, and we pencilled in a date to visit the following week. The bar itself could not have been more aesthetically different from the cantina; it was light and airy, softly decorated and quiet. However, any doubts of its Pacifico-origin were cast aside when those who worked there greeted us as friends. That evening was the first time we really tasted tequila, and I truly believe that El Nivel serves some of the best food in the entirety of London.

It wasn’t until a couple of visits later that we met both Tomas Estes and Jesse Estes. By this time we were already impassioned Pacifico lovers, and visiting both El Nivel and Café Pacifico had become such an intrinsic part of our lives. I will never forget the day that we met Tomas; listening to his stories ignites something passionate within me, and I feel so privileged that Josh and I have had the chance to play a small part in the Pacifico story. Naturally, we have been coming back here ever since. It became our Café Pacifico ‘love-child’.

I’ve met some wonderful, interesting people over the past year at El Nivel, but last week, whilst celebrating El Nivel’s ‘first birthday’, I had the opportunity to meet someone who I have wanted to meet even before I first stepped foot in London.

As an undergraduate law student, I was finding it difficult to decide on an area of law that I felt personally and professionally passionate about. That was until I had the fortune of watching Chris Watson, primarily a lawyer in the technology industry, on an early-morning news programme. For the first time in my legal career I had an ‘a-ha’ moment; hearing Chris talk so vehemently about his practice inspired me in a way that university had failed to do.

That night was one of those unique times in life where you feel so intrinsically fortunate. Chris Watson walked into El Nivel, as a good friend of Tomas, with some of the best legal minds within the technology sector. I ended that night sipping Mexican 55s on their table; an experience many senior lawyers would have killed for.

That, of course, is only one of the many incredible nights I have spent in that bar. Some of the best nights of my life have been spent in the company of my Pacifico family, and nothing I can write will do my story justice. My love affair with both of these incredible places will continue to grow, and as articulated by Oscar Wilde, “never love anybody who treats you like you’re ordinary”, and I have never felt ordinary here.