When you look at a bottle of Viejo Indecente mezcal you will see an eye staring back at you. It is the eye of an old man, staring through a keyhole. The name of this “dirty old man” mezcal was inspired by Charles Bukowski, the writer and poet. Each bottle also comes with a key […]

We first wrote about Cinco Sentidos (5 Sentidos) last year in our blog post Cinco Sentidos and El Destilado. Jason, the co-founder of both the El Destilado restaurant and the Cinco Sentidos brand, has a knack for building relationships with producers who operate in some of the most remote regions of Oaxaca and beyond. The […]

It was the summer of 2016, a few months before launching Mezcal Reviews. Jonny and I met after work at The Austin Shaker, a local bottle shop, to browse their mezcal selection. This was part of our “research phase” before launching the website. We chatted a bit with Kiki, the co-owner, who was eager to […]

The legend of Eduardo “Lalo” Angeles is growing quickly. His mezcals have been highly sought after in Oaxaca for many years and his personal brand, Lalocura, is quickly becoming one of the more well-acclaimed mezcals available on the international market. I’m not sure when Tyler and I first heard of Lalo. His name came up […]

Photographer, mixologist, chef, promoter, traveler, cultural ambassador, Instagram superstar…. Omar Alonso covers a lot of ground, and the Oaxacking moniker, for which he’s most well-known, seems to capture all his different personas. For those unfamiliar with him, a good place to start is his Oaxacking Instagram, which features some of the best photos, videos, and […]

What if I told you one of the most popular mezcal tour guides in Oaxaca, Mexico was a retired lawyer from Canada? Well, it’s true and his name is Alvin Starkman. He is well-respected in the mezcal community and has a stellar TripAdvisor rating. Ever since Jonny, our friends, and I got into mezcal we […]

The Mezcal Vago Tasting Room in Oaxaca is located on a quiet residential street in a small suburb of Oaxaca City. The space is used mostly for aging and bottling mezcal from Vago’s producers, but they have a bar set up in the corner of the main room that has four or five bar stools […]

If you haven’t heard of Mezcal Marca Negra, you’re missing out on some amazing mezcal from some of Oaxaca’s most talented mezcaleros. Marca Negra was founded in 2010 with the mission of promoting authentic mezcal – the brand does not shy away from releasing mezcals that are at or above 50% alcohol by volume. This might […]

Cinco Sentidos (5Sentidos) is the house mezcal of a restaurant named El Destilado in downtown Oaxaca. The restaurant was founded in 2015, and it’s quickly become one of the more popular stops for tourists from all over Mexico and abroad. El Destilado started as a mezcaleria that featured a curated mix of some of the more […]

The process of making mezcal is a true art. Each little detail makes a big impact on the final product, and unlike many other spirits, traditional mezcal is made without the use of large industrial machinery that is designed to make the precise calculations easier. With traditional mezcal, it’s all done by hand. Everything from […]