Our. Head mixologist and, education. Director. Marco Stella it, became enamored of the bartender, trade while watching his favorite television show Cheers. As a young boy growing up in LA he. Developed a fascination with the relationships, that formed around the iconic bar an impression. That continues to drive his work today as one, of the most acclaimed bartenders, in LA while. Fellow is mostly self-taught, he, furthers education, of the industry under the tutelage of cocktail guru Sasha Petroski Audrey Saunders and, Dale DeGroff to. Both refine his artistry and delve, deeper into the history behind the trade today. Dellow is a beverage, alcohol resource, and wine and spirit Education Trust certified, bartender, who is passionately, committed to sustaining, a classic cocktail culture, in LA, by. Consulting, for various restaurants and lounges della, has successfully helped, to install classically, inspired cocktail, programs throughout the LA area including. Seven. Grand whiskey bar the. Edison, the. Varnish. 1886. At the Raymond. Peddler's. Fork birds, and bees and the Los Angeles Athletic Club, he. Has also consulted, for various spirit companies like Diageo William grants and Son Pernod, Ricard and, Lukas bowls USA, currently. Holds the position of Director of mixology and education. For in Silencio mezcal through. His dedication, to cementing, LA's place in the cocktail revolution, teller, has received international acclaim, for his expertise, in prominent, publications including. The LA Times New York Times class, magazine, in the UK Food, & Wine playboy, GQ, Maxim, and bone Appetit tella, has also appeared on broadcasts, such as the Tom Leakey show Access. Hollywood Martha, Stewart radio CSI, New York and great cocktails, as The, Next Food Network Star, for, the fine living food networks though. Televised eighteen years of experience in the industry he continues, to measure his success not, by his accolades but. On based on the reaction he receives from patrons he. Strives to create not just a great cocktail but, a great experience for the person drinking the cocktail so, you can tell later on what you thought thank. You so much and, now it's going Han to applause for so excited out here, thank. You I didn't know you're gonna read the whole thing or I would have shortened, it no I'm not at all was like. Everything. And. I was very impressed so I want to read the whole thing surface thank you thank you a, lot. Of Angelenos here who understand, and know all the bars and all the places and other publications, okay why not but. Um so now that we know your, life. Now. We want know the education, piece and all that you learned throughout the years and I wouldn't want to get to you know a lot of people here it's interesting miss.
Collins Very mysterious. And some, people kind I know about it other people are like ooh this is a new thing other people like is that like tequila, like there's confusion, all around and so, today's talks about demystifying and, i want to start from the beginning what, is Miss Scott where does it come from what is the name well. Essentially. Mezcal. Is the name given to any, agave. Spirits. That comes, from cooked agave plants the. Agave is a succulent you may see it growing on the sides of roads looks, like a cactus but you'll see it has like a big, huge stock, growing, out of it it. Grows, well in California it grows all over Mexico, but, where the actual name mezcal, comes, from is a Zapotec. Combination. Of words the, first word methyl, meaning, agave, and the next, word eats galley meaning. Cooked, so essentially cooked, agave, is. Where, it comes from, really. The way to understand. Mass, calvo, which. Now is kind of defined, as a style, of. Cooking. And, then, fermenting. And then distilling, you. Would have to kind of take it all the way back to the beginning of, this beautiful. Romantic story, that's. Told in Zapotec culture and it's, the story of Maya well who's the goddess of love, and fertility, and she. Falls in love with the God of War Quetzalcoatl. However. Their union is forbidden, as Maya Wells grandmother, had promised her to another so, like. Any good star-crossed. Lovers. They decide to elope and they, flee to earth to have their affair, Maya. Wells grandmother's, furious, she sends her emissaries, after, them the Zeitz II mean the star, myah, well and gets a coatl panic, and decide, to disguise, themselves as a branch ism a tree. However. As the zc mean descend, upon earth they, are not fooled they immediately recognize Maya well and tear her to shreds as is, easy mean leaf gets, a coatl, materializes. In human form gathers, up her remains spreads. Them throughout the earth and weeps and rages, in the form of thunder, lightning, and rain and, out, of her remains grows agave, or the lifeblood, of all of Mexico, now as early, as 200 AD we, see agave. Plants, even, in the depictions, of murals. In the pyramids, of Cholula if. You see ever see any type, of old. Mexican. Art they, have headdresses, those aren't feathers those are agave plants they, would take at the end of each leaf is a quill, or a spine. Yeah and they, would take those and they would sew clothing with it they agave, plant. Is fibrous, so they would dry it out and make mats out of it and make armor out of it it's, quite a prolific plant that grows in times of flood it grows, in times of droughts it grows, in sunshine, it grows and cold. It grows I mean pretty much anywhere, Wow. And so, really. Where we think, that the myth comes from is that, agaves. Take a very long time to mature and what I mean by mature is they grow these leaves and inside. The plant, concentrates, sugar and.
When The plant is that it's the. Most sugar that it ever has it'll. Send a stock up into the air called the Quixote and the plant, is so prolific it can actually propagate, in two ways the first, is at the top of that stock it has flower and nectar and seeds so. In the bat population, at night come and feast, on the nectar they, excrement. It out and instantly. You have fertilizer, and seeds it'll grow but. Also housed in that stalk are clones, so, as the wind blows the. Clones, will drop around this mother plants, which ironically, it's the male plant, that holds the babies, and. Drops, and continues, to grow these. Agave clones now, if you've ever been to Mexico and go out to agave, fields. You. Notice that it's. The. Landscape, is pretty war-torn, it's it's. It's. Littered with thunderstorms. And floods that go on through that, what. Ends up happening is, those tall, 10 to 12 feet coyotes, in the middle of a thunderstorm act as lightning rods so. Lightning, will strike the. Actual, Keota drive. Into the plant and cook it on contact, and what, we know about how. Alcohol is produced is that any fermentable. Sugar, exposed. To yeast which East is all around us even now the. Yeast will come down and they'll. Basically exclude. The crudeness, of this but they'll basically eat up all the sugar fart. Out co2 and piss out alcohol and, you. Have wine, or beer and we. Think that it was these cooked, open-field. Agave, plants, that the natives, first, had this fermented, agave. Beverage, that they later distilled, into mask, ow ah because, it was cooked. Wow that's. Awesome, so I think above us we have the different types of plants right. In the middle is s buddy and, that is what. Mask, al the, mask L Industries answer to the blue ever plant so if you know anything a little about tequila, tequila can only come from one type of agave plant and that's the blue ever whereas, in Moscow. Mezcal can be made from 20. To 30 I think yeah 30 plus now different. Types of plants but the main plant, is s, padeen why, because, it has the most sugar it grows the quickest, and it's, the second biggest in terms of. Blue ever with, all those attributes all, the rest are wild, some. Of them take 10. 15 25, years to grow will, some are a lot smaller so it means you need a lot more of that you have to forage for them which is why some of those bottles fetch for you, know over a hundred dollars, and. Did the natives use so, you're talking about the plant and how they use it for many things but what about the liquid itself, well, the liquid is interesting, in the fact that they used it in cooking, they used it to give to you. Know their their children, to, make them strong and ironically. When the plant grows to full maturity you, can chop off the top hollow. Out the inside like. A pumpkin yeah, and it'll fill full of a gallon of agave nectar every, day for up to 250, days Wow so. Yeah, it's it's a quite diverse plant right, here we have a, little. Bit of kind. Of ground, zero for mess cows so whereas Jalisco. Is kind of ground zero for all the agafia's, that grow with tequila. Oaxaca. Is ground zero for Moscow, now there's other areas, dude. I'll go get arrow, Zacatecas. San luis potosí that, all grow a gavage that cannot you I can actually make into Moscow outside, of those areas. It. Can be agave, you can cook it and you can make it into a for. A ghave, beverage but it can't be designated. As a mescal, so, how for, somebody who I mean I guess everyone here has now tried eight perhaps but. For somebody who's not used to miss kau what is like the right way to drink it for first-timers and then other ways to drink it that are also delicious first-timers, I would say take, a little sip of it neat okay and what you want to do is I always say when you taste and evaluate a spirit, you want to taste twice okay, the first one you want to kind of put in your mouth swish.
Around Swallow, that's. Gonna kind of wash out whatever you had before coffee. Cigarette. Candy. Whatever and then the second, taste is really where you can evaluate the spirit, and. You're. Gonna get I mean from ESPA Dean I. Always. Get what I call cooked, vegetable, leather and smoke yeah. There's that kind of savory. Funky. Note to it but, there's also an herbaceous note, in it as well obviously it comes from a plants but. Really where that comes from is the fact that. With. S badeen, or with mask al the agaves, are roasted, underground, and how that's different from tequila is the, agaves, and tequila, are steamed. Cooked in ovens either, big round, steel drums called autoclaves, or brick, ovens so, the best analogy, I can give you is if. You were to take a vegetable, and let's. Say it's asparagus, and you were to steam, cook those asparagus, it, would have a very herbaceous, like, flavor when you bit. Into it however. If you were to take those asparagus and put it on the barbecue. And smoke. Those and cook those then it's gonna have a really kind of smoky flavor and that's the best way to describe, the cooking of agaves or the treatment of agaves, in, tequila versus mess cow one is pretty, much steamed cooked and the other one or baked and the other one is roasted. In underground pits okay so let's talk about that process which is sure got to be quite different I wasn't, Oaxaca it was also to go in and really understand, how my cell was made and one saw you, know the donkey, actually moving the whole rotor it was pretty fantastic but I love for everyone here to understand, the process that goes into it and what makes it so special because the flavors really unique yeah, so, essentially. You. Have your agave plant and it grows and grows and grows with s padeen it's, anywhere from seven. To nine years till. It reaches full maturity, the. Quixote will shoot up which means it's the most sugar in that plant that, tells.
That. Tells you that you have about six months in which to harvest you, go in there with a machete you, shave, off all, the leaves of, that plant and it, kind of looks like a pineapple without. The top everyone. Calls it a Pina okay, so, you get a bunch of those in, tequila, you would load it on trucks in Moscow, you, usually load, it on Boutros or you. Know on the back of horses and you take it down to the, Palenque. And. Basically. You just dig a big pit and there's, a lot of volcanic activity in Mexico so there's a lot of lava rocks which hold heat very well you. Fill, the pit with lava rocks and then you build a big fire usually it's mesquite wood it's, the most abundant wood and you. Get those rocks nice and glowing hot for about eight hours and, you don't want to singe, your brand-new, agave. Penis so, you have to cover that with a layer of kind. Of used fiber, and then, you put the new piñas on and then more fiber and then you bury that and just leave it just walk away just let it cook underground, slow and low for. Anywhere. From four days to, a week sometimes, more depending, on, the agave there's. An agave called Dobis EJ which we use in our Homan which, is almost tree, bark like so you got to cook that sucker for like ten days but. With s badeen, about. Four days we'll. Get it nice and tender, it's it's very soft and sugar-rich, so. Then you unearth it you. Take those cooked, hearts. And you, put them in a big pit, and. The. You know kind of state-of-the-art technology is. A big stone, wheel pulled. By, a boudreaux, or donkey or horse at. El Silencio his name is g-spot. Aka, Sparky. And he pulls this stone. Wheel around, and around in this pit and it, crushes and crushes, and crushes. This. These cooked, agave hearts into mulch yeah, so cook the guy's a nectar and fiber they, take everything and they put it in a big. Wooden VAT it's all done outdoors nothing's. Done indoors and. They, just let that ferment. Out. In, the open there we go so we're at fermentation, and that's there and. We. Let that ferment and. That'll. Kind of create an agave like beer and, fermentation. Will stop the yeast basically. Die off from. The production of alcohol. And. We'll take all of that liquid and. It's and it's interesting in, mezcal. It, used to be they used to do this in tequila they don't do it anymore but. They actually take the fiber and throw, it into the still the. Fibers called bagasse oh and it, gives it a quality if you've ever had tequila. Pre. 1980s. You'll, notice this herbaceous. Quality. Almost like what I call bass notes in it and and. That's because they used to just still with pegasos so anyways, ah. I. Think, you can. One. When, you when. You when you distill, in a still all, of that fiber sticks. To the sides of the still whereas. If you just have liquid, as. You distill, off it's easier to clean out so I made it a faster, process, but. With our teas and ol mess scale you use the bagasse Oh so. We. Distill twice in copper, pots. And. The, first the. First distillation is called, ordinary Oh which, only gets you around thirty percent ABV and then, the second distillation is your mess kal. And, so, that's. Essentially, it in. A nutshell. From. Agave, to glass is how. That, process goes I, always. So people listen if you're gonna drink Maskell, yes. If you're gonna describe, it to someone who's had tequila before mezcal, as a smoky, tequila, you probably wouldn't be wrong but it drinks more like a scotch. It's, smoky. It. Has a lot of different layers in it it. Is yet it's said that but, Scotch is different in the, fact that you're using barley, and you're using peat, to smoke it and whereas, scotch is born in the barrel, mezcal. Is born in the earth nice. So, you talked about artisanal, I know what's. The difference between a miss cow and eight artisinal miss cow so there's three different types there's, ancestral. There's, artisanal, and then. There is industrial. Okay. So, really, it's how you distill ancestral. Can, only be distilled, in. Clay. Pot stills. Artisanal. Can only can be distilled in either clay pot or, copper. Pot stills and then industrials, distilled in column, stills Wow, okay, so it changes the flavor it does matically, it does a you you jump, the column stills yes, it definitely changes, so okay so let's talk so the first one that you were taught so a new study out for example industrial, tastes. Like what more. Like it, tastes like well. You. Ever make a copy. Of a copy okay. So to me and I don't want to I don't want to bash into him but to me it. Has a, little bit of a lesser, flavor when. You distill, with column stills, so, for instance vodkas, made with column stills, and. You. Just distill to a very, high proof. High percentage. So. You you really can't taste. The organic, material from which it came, versus. If you're using a pot still you. Still. Can taste from. Which it came so for, instance Scotch is distilled, in pot, stills and, you can still kind of taste that barley, and rich grain mess, cow when you when you taste a mess cows still.
Pot Stills you can still taste that herbaceous, agave layered, on with that kind of layer of smoke, okay. So we're at Google and Rob, about technology, when it is important, to add technology so would, you say in this 500 year old process that. There is room for technology. To make, miss kau or just leave it an own because it's wonderful, the way it is I would. Say it, is, a bit of, both. The. Original. Process in, which. To distill, mask L saw. All of the components. Being. Used, whether. It be the leaves whether. It be replanting. It was sustainable, okay. So I would say if you can apply technology. To make sure that, it is what every every, part of the process is 100%, sustainable. Awesome. But a lot, of, what. Happens, with mask al is kind, of born. In, and of this. Very. Old. Tradition. And, so. I would say that applying, technology to protect that tradition, is, probably, the best way to use it, you. Know it would kind of be like okay, I'm. Gonna have a robot, make. Chila. Dan'l or salsa, and I'm gonna have your grandma make it what's, gonna taste better you. Know I mean so within, that aspect, there is some tradition. And ritual that cannot be lost or the, spirit of the, spirits is lost sure of course that love yeah yeah so. Last. Time that we had a private tasting of, miss, kau infinity Coe told us that. And he's one of these guys who's out there. He. Told us that you can actually sign quinceañeras, or in weddings and, important events you, can actually flavor miss kau with like snake, or, like turkey, chicken, like, what so. Right so there is there's in in. Tequila, yeah, there's a few different categories and with tequila, it's all about aging right so. You. Can basically do after, you distill tequila, you, can as, long as you bottle it within sixty days it's called Blanco okay, any, where if you rested, in wood for two, months to up to a year just before a year it's go to Reposado which means rested and anytime. It's aged in a barrel after. A year its onion, ho, there's. Another category where, you take a blend, of an a hose with a minimum on a hose three years that's, called Maduro or extra, onion, in. Moscow. They follow the same categories. Except, they allow for, a. Another, category, which. Is called Pachuca, which. Means that, you, take, your, distillate, you throw it back in the still and then. You flavor it using. A basket method, you basically suspend. A basket, with. Fruits and nuts and, a chicken breast inside. And. As. The, liquid vaporizes it'll, pass through the basket and grab. Some, of those flavors now this. Is gone into, a whole, new realm where. They, are flavoring, not just with chicken but, with, America. Ham and, with, goats. And with. All, kinds, of ingredients. But. Although, you. Can do that if, you don't have a quality. Mask out to begin with it is I, mean. It's pretty much worthless so, when. With. A lot of those recipes. Yes those are very ceremonial. Ritualistic. Like. In. Our words allocated, mescal's. That. Are rare but. You know kind of the the.
Truth Of the matter is is that you know what you do in the, bottom before you flavor it is really, okay. What does let you ever get into Pachuca versions I don't know I mean. It. Really depends on who you talk to because. Traditionally. Pachoo. Gus' were, reserved, only for that only for a wedding only. For a, quinceanera. Only for a rite of passage so. To produce, it and sell it in some circles was seen as sacrilegious, in. Our circle, we we don't want to cross that realm we, like, the product that. We're making and it's a it's quite a fine artisanal. Mess cow I hope I hope you guys. All are, enjoying it but. Yeah I think we'll, kind of you. Stay in our zone. Sure. Why the name right why silence, so. It. Was founded. By Fausto. Zapata and Vicente. Cisneros. And. They. Actually you, know they actually started, by. Throwing a party yeah. And, they. Wanted, it was it was a charity. Event and. They. Sold out but they wanted to give everyone a gift so. They had. Commissioned. A very small run of this mess Cal well. They. Sold out they gave to charity they, raised a bunch of money but. The. End result was all of, the people that attended the party kept, asking where can I get another bottle or can I get another bottle so the. Answer. To that was either they throw another party or they start, a mezcal brand and they decided to do the, latter and, when. Considering. Why. What. They should call it, our. Master, distiller. Pedro. Was like the only way that you can truly. And, he's very, very serious, mezcal distiller well, I've truly evaluate a mask al is to go out into. The. Agave, fields, in, the San Balthasar Mountains where we source our agave, and it's, very quiet out there's nothing out there and close. Your eyes and. Only. Amongst. The silence, that sensory, deprivation can. You truly knows. And, taste, and evaluate a mess Cal well. Vicente, is a graphic. Designer by trade and a. Huge David Lynch fan and in the movie Mulholland, Drive there's Club Silencio, so. He saw this as a sign but really, more. Or less it was, the fact that there. Was a, spiritual. Aspect to. Enjoying. The silence that they liked and, Silencio stuck okay, and so it's really about how you evaluate let's, go nice, and so okay so evaluating, the myth scale and choosing, the proper agave plants is it's. Very important to Rachael yeah how did you decide which ones were the right ones because there's so many of them well. First. Of all like. I said. I got it yep make, tequila tequila, and the, main the main when you go after his s buddy yeah well. Whereas, in tequila you, know one of the revered. Regions, is the Highlands Los Altos region in, Oaxaca. Which is ground zero it's the San Balthazar Mountains so we knew we had to source our I got away from there okay and it just so happened that our master distiller. You. Know sources. His agave from there now it's very different it's very communal, the. Agaves are sourced from a co-op anything that we take out we have to put, back, so. It, was just you know about the right climate the right tirar and. Being, able to sustain. This. Agave, region and not just take from it yeah is, there is why, we chose this its nutrient. Rich so, we knew that we could take, agave, and plant. It again and it would again. Sustain, the region that was very very important, to how El. Silencio. You know kind of plans their, harvests. And, their. You know product runs and before, El Silencio was became, el silencio and before that lady that party came to be do, you know how the founders decided okay there's probably a swell of mezcal coming, along we want to be a part of this or you, know it was a risk because miss Cal isn't really you know tequila, is like what everybody knows you're the West that's right so we why decide, on Miska versus tequila the founders are from Mexico City okay and they obviously grew up drinking tequila but they also grew up drinking Moscow, and. You. Know they really wanted mezcal. Is kind of shrouded in mystery, there's a lot of myths and legends, and, some. Of it's true a lot of its bogus, what. Are some of the bogus ones okay. So at least we know so for instance, everyone. Everyone, talks about the worm at the bottom of the bottle right yes cow you, go to Mexico you get this bottle with a worm you you. Drink the whole bottle and, you eat the worm you're supposed to either have, some superhuman, strength or, have some LSD. Trip or something like that right that's good marketing, all right the key word is drink the bottle, Benny Thor right the. Worm is actually, a caterpillar. That grows on the plant and. The. It. It's actually in Oaxacan, cuisine where. They dry it out and they grind it up and they mix it with salt okay, it, would give the salt this kind of savory like flavor but, when.
The, Fueled. Workers were tending, the agave crops, and they, would make mask al, it was the landowners, that would take the best cuts and they, would leave the field workers these bitter spirits, are bitter cuts, if. You know anything about salt. It. Takes the edge off or takes the bitter notes off so, they take this they. Call it the caterpillar. Was called the gusano so to take this salt, of worm or salad egg gusano right and. They would lick, a little bit of it and sip their spirits, and. It would take the bitter notes off we. Believe, that some American on vacation, was like oh my god you're like the saw throw the shot suck the lime and this is where that. Ritual, comes, from, but. It was really, about, trying. To enjoy. This spirit which you know was kind of the dregs and the bitter edges of it the, other thing was is that in old pirate. Times. How. You would justify, the. Proof of spirit let's say rum is you, would take gunpowder, you, pour some rum on it and if the wet gunpowder, still lit it was proof, that that, spirit had a high percentage, well. It was also said in mezcal that if he dropped that caterpillar, at the bottom, of the bottle and it, didn't decay, that. The spirit. The proof in that was high enough to preserve it and so, that's where that kind of worm bottle, kind, of comes from okay. There, is another story about Maya well and I'm, not sure if I should tell it but you got it's Friday today and, I'm, sure you guys have a couple more mescal's so. It's. Kind of a naughty story so I'll go. Said. That Maya was. Attending. Her agave crop, with, her head botanist, his, name was Paco Koppel all right I don't come up with these names but that's his name and, they had a good crop and, so they decide to cheers with a little agave, beverage, I'd like to think it's mescal and they. Have a shot and they have and they have more and they have more and boom. Next, morning they wake up and. Turns. Out my Wells pregnant, and, she. Gives birth to four hundred, drunken. Rabbit, children. Each. Exhibiting. A different. Level, of inebriation. Okay. Now I know it sounds funny 400. Different drunken levels right as. You go out on Friday night I'm sure you may experience some of these levels however, this. Stuff bottled. Water, is. Somewhat, new, to. Civilization. 1900s. Water. Before. That was. A crapshoot because. The contain, could, contain if it wasn't purified, or didn't come from, a purified, limestone, spring, a lot.
Of Disease. So. Most, people, hydrated. Off of beer or wine or something, that had alcohol in it even. If it was water they would sometimes pour spirit in it going. Back to the Pirates they would call this strong water, so. When. It came to indigenous cultures. They. Would drink. Spirit, in times of sadness in. Times of celebration in times. Of tribute, in times, of marriage, in times, of ritual, all, kinds. Of things so you can see where these 400 levels start. To come into play and, that's where they, kind of you. Know hard truth of the matter is okay. That's. Wonderful like goodness so these are all myths yeah, these are all these are all kind of myths that, kind of believe. In these like, how strong, are these myths well here's, the thing. There's. Actually a tree, in Oaxaca that's carbon, dated over 2,000, years old with that myth of. Maya. Well and gets a koala disguising, themselves as a branches of a tree I. Said, to have physically gone down now what. You have to understand, is in, the, u.s. we separate, church and state but if you go to. Scotland. If you go to Oaxaca. Everything. Is intertwined so. To insult. One's grandmother, is to install, one's food is to, insult one's Maskell and so. With. These myths and legends, and realities, they're all kind of intertwined, and that's, why I say there's a lot of mystique. With. Masks al because you. Can't talk about, you. Know distillation. And, percentages. And you. Know biodynamic. Without talking, about these romantic myths, and legends sure so how does he lose your doing that is I know, because. It's so mysterious and. A, lot of people don't know a lot necessarily. About it how, I'll tenants are trying to you, know make it a home staple well one thing is you, know I don't know if you've noticed our. Logo but on the bottle. There. Is a kind of kind of crazy-looking, character that's actually a rabbit and that, kind of references, that legend. Of the, four, hundred rabbits which the legend is called cents on Pluto Jean, but. What. We've tried to do is we've. Tried to bring. A lot of those legends, into kind of I. Guess. Clarify. A lot of these like I'm doing today okay um but also make them fun and easy digestible and, really. You. Can't educate without. Kind of telling the story yeah, so that's what we're really into, is kind of telling, the story of mess cow telling. The story of Silencio, but, really, kind of breaking.
Down The walls of, these Oh mess. Cow you know and really, say hey you know what let's just let's taste it on its own and then, let's. Plug it into your favorite cocktail and see how that does and that is the. Other arm of this are cocktails, which we haven't even talked about but. And that's. Like you know what kind of my specialty and where I really get excited and eek out on but. Mescal seems, to be probably. One of the most diverse spirits. That we have out so if you plug if. You take let's, just say a Negroni, a, zombie. Moscow. Mule and, a. Margarita, right. All, of, those are amazing, with. Mezcal, okay, so that's a gin cocktail, a vodka cocktail or rum cocktail and, a, tequila cocktail that. Mescal, plugs into and immediately, works okay. So what we're seeing is that because. Of the smoke characteristic. And. That's you know very familiar, to people, we. Have, seen. That it's very, very versatile, in cocktails. So, if you, know for the home bartender, if. You just want to plug and play we, have four recipes up there which I think we have cards, but, the mess calamari. Which. Mess cow a little bit of citrus and some Bloody Mary Mix do, yourself a favor cook some bacon up with that stir that up, or. Maybe I just love bacon so I included. Everything the. Paloma that's, an easy one where. It's a little bit of grapefruit soda a little. Bit of mess Cal and a, little. Squeeze of lime. Moscow. Mule, same, thing I mean keep the mess Cal keep the lime put, in ginger beer and you have mescal meal and then the margarita a little bit of agave nectar. Juice. Of a lime and mezcal. But. All of these are proof, that it is quite the versatile spirit. When it comes to cocktails, so. Anyways I would say make your favorite at home and you. Know do, the Pepsi challenge where, you try them right next to each other. So. Before I open it up to the group maybe, you have questions, one. Last thing so I know that there's like a national, day for everything now like yesterday found out is like national day for tacos. I don't know about is like a day for something and I, know tequila, has a day too so. Does mr. Kyle have a day, October. 21st. It's. Declared, by Toby, Keith country, singer mezcal. Fan. But. That's 15 days away I will be raising a glass I hope you'll join me, and. You. Know if I, can make it Silencio, let, me know. I. Actually don't know I I actually, am, a. Low-key. Country, music fan and, that. Caught me off guard when, I was like I was like what he did what oh man.
God Bless his heart. Well. Thank you. Awesome. So anybody have questions I left open it up yes, you're gonna have the microphone right here but, you can actually throw around, oh yeah. That's fancy. Okay. Perfect, this works so. You you noted that with. Mezcal. With, a Spidey it comes from a particular area but you also know that that the, agave plant can grow in. Almost. Any condition yes, I'm assuming, that similar to grape, like, like, wine with grapes the, area, in which it grows also influences, the plant and ultimately. Then the taste of the spirit have. You, ever thought about. Sourcing. Sort, of budding, or I guess that's Bini has to come from a particular place but agave. From other places and, just different climates, and sort of playing with those factors to see how that influences. The end result well. Yes. And no so. The. What. You're looking for and it's you, know you would think with all the, microclimates, that we have on this planets, that. Things can grow, you. Could replant it anywhere but it's not so. There. Are specific, zones. That are kind of ideal. Temperature. Ideal. Seasons. Ideal. Soil, ideal. Humidity. Where. These plants grow and the. Reason, that, scent. Balthasar Oaxaca, is. Ground zero for mass Cal is because. It, has. This. Soil, and, climate. And things that are just right for that just like if, you tried to grow cognac, anywhere, else but the chalky soil, region. Of cognac. It's it's, gonna be crazy, different, so. For, us we. Are sourcing. Our s padeen from that region now if we decided to source it from another region and we. Put it in the same bottle it's, gonna be like two different products, so. It, kind, of screws, with our consistency, as much, consistency, as you can get from, a product born of the earth subject. To, all the different things and climate changes that the earth has so. We try to minimize, that inconsistency. By, just, kind of staying to our zone and the one, beautiful. Region, we know kind. Of produces. This again. It's nutrient-rich, and. We. Rotate. Enough, so. That will never ever deplete, it and that's something that, is. Huge, with. Silencio. Is our, sustainability. And. Our drive towards, making sure that. Everything. That. We do, with Silencio, is reused, and goes, back into the. Land so yeah. We could probably try. To relocate it but it might equate. To an inconsistent, product and it might kind of screw with our whole sustainable, point of view. You. Had me at cognac. So, you talked earlier about that aging, and yeah on edge Scotch is a pretty underwhelming experience, while. Ms call is not so is it you. Get much benefit from aging it or how does it change the character of the spirit well, I always say that. With. Tequila and. You'll. Notice that you get different nuances, in a Blanco, that, comes from the highland, region versus, lowland, region and then, when you age it it throws, another layer on it and I. Always say tequila, is an aging game because, you're you're only dealing, with one type of agave how. With Moscow. You're. Dealing with several different types so for instance our black bottle, is s. Budding, and it's, a pretty type a SP cooked vegetable other than smoked we. Have a white bottle, too and that, is a blend, of, or. What they call an ensemble. Of s, padeen Dobis, each and Meccano we thought was CJ you're, gonna get kind of a floral fennel note with, Meccano you get this chocolate and chili and when you blend them together it. Kind. Of gives you a symphony, of flavors so. When you go to a bar and you see nine bottles, of Maskell on the bar usually. Ones in s padeen and the.
Rest Are different. Expressions of single agaves and blends, too and that's, really kind of where, mezcal digs in and Geeks out is that. Kind of ending of agaves or using different agaves planted, in different regions limited. Releases stuff. Like that so whereas Scotch. You, know what, how they get a let's. Say a. Glenmorangie. Tenure, year, after year to taste the same is they, have different stocks, of ten. Twelve, eleven, and a half seventeen. And there's, a Master Blender that blends them together by nose by sight by taste and makes, it taste the same, whereas. With, Moscow, what, makes it taste the same is the. Fact that you found a region that, the. Soil, is so rich the climate, is so perfect, the precipitation, is so, spot-on that. It yields this beautiful, product out of this plant year, after year after year it's. Pretty much Nature's. Way of making it consistent. So. You talked earlier about the different bottles, at the bar if I head to the bar after this and they don't have el silencio, what, are some mezcals. You suggest, personally, and which ones are like well repudiated. That you. Think a first-time drinker should really try trick. Question it is. I am, I asking. Me to step out of the Silencio, blanket, here but if I were to. Step out of that very warm blanket, into the cold world. There. Is a bottle, maybe you should look for it's called coach K och. Our. Master. Distiller. Pedro. That's his home, brand coach. To. Was, very, revered in Oaxaca and. It. Only recently now, is being released in the States but very, limited run. We, actually produced, the same distillery, but, that's where when our. Founders, tasted coach they. Knew the. Talent, of our. Master distiller and out of that was born Silencio, so, it's. A very cool brand they have a lot of different notes. Of agaves. And. And I'm sorry a lot of different guy different agaves expressions, distilled. So, that's something that I would look for, just, because he's so brilliant, I like tasting his work it's like going. You. Know from. One. Thomas Keller restaurant, to another. You. Know kind of tasting the food and the different expressions of that food is. The best thing I would. Ask the bartender to. Recommend. Usually, if they have more than one mess cal someone. Behind that bar is really, into mescal because they're quite pricey so, to justify. That there's usually, some type of education. If it's a craft cocktail bar meaning. The. Bartender, has a mustache, and suspenders, and they have fancy. Bar wear but. That's much too expensive chances. Are they'll have a good recommendation for. You and. You can always ask if they have Silencio, and then if they say we don't then just say why, not and, then we. Would. You say is would you say just to follow, up on this question like. A staple, a good staple, is going with a guess bugging because the other one's a little more if you're in a bull usually, here's the thing usually s, badeen is the and, this is kind of putting on my hat as a. As. A bar, consultant yeah s buddy is the really, the the. Most. Affordable. One you can put in a cocktail without, breaking. Your bank okay so, if you ask for. Another. Expression. Outside. Of s padeen. Just. Know that there's probably a good. Price tag with that so don't be surprised when the bill comes. But. Usually if you ask for a cocktail with Moscow, chances. Are that's going to be an s padeen based, Moscow. Okay. Over. There in the back. Look. So. It's it at least feels like in the, past several years miss, college has been blowing up as a sort of a trendy. Topic. Or just a trendy spirit in general I'm just curious you. Know like you. Also mentioned, how this is very much sort of a spiritual thing there's a lot of cultural aspects, that are rooted into miscall what. Like power smaller. Sort of, you. Know I don't know what the word is purveyors, are people, who are like growing the stuff like that I've been doing this for generations reacting.
To Like this huge surge in demand is, it just all good news that like business is booming are they sort of concerned, with the more. Sort of the commercialization, of it. So. One. When. Silencio. Got into the mess Cala business. We. Knew that the rising, tide lifts, all ships so. Yes, making. It popular and it's it's, it's, very popular and. And, I find it funny, that when I go places where. I like to go and there, are a lot of them are chef-driven places. And a lot of them have, cocktails, it's everywhere, but. Part. Of my job as an educator is to go into the places that are, not like that and. It, hasn't quite breached, that market, so whereas in, your circles, it seems like wow it's, blowing up in. Terms, of our, footprint, next to tequila. It's, a very, small, footprint, so. In terms of that right. Now at this stage yes. Mescal. Distillers, are excited. Because finally. Mezcal. Is being, compared, in the same lines of a five star spirit as cognac, as scotch. And these, distillers. Who are. Beautiful. People, are finally, getting recognized, for the work they're craftsmen, of the. Highest. Regard. And finally, people, are knowing about it is there. A panic, from. People saying oh my God we're gonna start running out of agaves, we're gonna start, yeah. I think it's a little soon. For that, we. Haven't crossed. That threshold where. All, of, a sudden like these fields are just. Getting decimated, like. What happened in tequila I think there's a little PTSD from, what happened in tequila. But, the other thing is is that there's so many different varieties of agave. To. Choose from that, it it helps, it kind of rotate a little bit. We're. Gonna do one more question and then. We run out of time, yeah. Just, occurred to me to wonder you, mentioned, that there was a preview there was a first stage of distillation, the. Ordinary, oh and, that before that I guess, you have something, I. Think it's called Poole Quay if I remember, right where you the pre distilled, versions, okay, okay. Okay. I speak Italian so I always, forget to do that in Spanish. But. I, was. Wondering if, you. Have gone that direction at all done any pulque or done any of the just just, once distilled, the, the lower proof so, bouquet. Is. The. Agave, that, has been. Introduced, to yeast, and it's, turned into this agave, like beer, it has. Not been distilled, so bouquet is not ordinary, Oh bouquet. Is this agave. Like wine or beer. If, you've ever had bouquet, it's. A little bit slimy, and it's. Not judge over, one thinks oh you distill, bouquet, and you. Get ordinary. Oh and then you just fill it again and you get Maskell that's, not that's. Not the way it goes bouquet. Is in order to sustain it, because, bouquet. One. It comes from different agaves, if, you were to taste it's. Very much like, wine. And spirits. When. You distill let's say great right, high. Acid. Grapes which don't make very good wine make. The best distilled, spirits, and then you get cognac or some sort of H brandy right with. Mezcal. It's very much the same the. Agaves. That make the best booth game don't, usually make the best mask al so, bouquet comes from different agaves. As. Well, as there's, some. Spices and things to preserve it because, it goes off it, goes like that very. Quickly. But. If you, were in Oaxaca, and. You go into, the. Markets, that have booth. K1, I will say I have tried, the. Legend of the five bouquets and, then someone. Told me oh no you have to have six out of sixth and then a seventh. I kept, going I, didn't. See any. Type, of hallucinogens. Or anything that, didn't happen but what I will say is you do have to be careful because, your stomach's probably, your. American stomach my american Samoa's probably not acclimated to it so, there, is a. Montezuma, of revenge, like, effect, after this. I'm. Sure you get my drift but yeah that. Is kind of where I stand with Buca and, what about the ordinary oh what's that what about the ordinary oh the ordinary, oh is a. More. Or less like thirty percent so really. What you're what. You're talking about is, when. You have or Donadio and you have that low percentage, there. Are still some off flavors. In there that you need to distill, out so. Even, if we were to bottle, of that which. Wouldn't. Make very good. Mezcal. Like. I said is. Always. That did that second, distillation, where. You're kind of getting the higher a little, bit higher proof, where, you get really. The essence, of. That. Life of the agave. I. Think. That's a thank you so much thank you. You.
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