Like most people who survived their CEGEP years, I had a formative encounter with Bang Bang tequila. I use the word “formative” the way one might describe a car accident that didn’t kill you but permanently altered your relationship with tequila-shaped bottles.
It nearly ruined an entire category of spirits for me. It would have been a tragedy. I’ve since made it my business to ensure it doesn’t ruin one for you.
In 2014, I Covered Oaxaca’s Feria Nacional del Mezcal for Vice
Vice still technically exists. My article is still technically online — somewhere, without photos, without links, orphaned on a server nobody tends, floating in the digital equivalent of unclaimed baggage. Vice has since experienced the kind of financial turbulence that makes you want to drink very strong mezcal. The Feria, founded in 1997, has absolutely no such problems.
That festival is where I actually learned what these spirits are.
Tequila and mezcal are both made from agave — and that’s where the resemblance ends. Tequila comes exclusively from blue agave, produced in the Tequila region under a protected designation of origin. The silver (or blanco) is unaged: direct, occasionally brutal. The reposado has spent a few months in wood and gained some roundness. The añejo has slept for over a year and started flirting with whisky.
Mezcal is made from a dozen different agave varieties, produced in the Oaxaca region. What sets it apart forever: fire. The agave plants are cooked in underground pits over burning wood, and that smoky flavor settles into the spirit in a way that’s obsessive, almost religious. Ely Casillas Martinez, a producer at Casa Don Ausencio Leon and my involuntary guide that evening, poured shot after shot while smiling: “Mezcal is the sacred spirit of Oaxaca. According to Zapotec legend, God struck the agave plant with lightning to reveal its purest liquid.”
He then produced a ten-year-aged bottle. It tasted like smoky port. I still preferred the joven.
READ MORE: I Survived Oaxaca’s Mezcal Festival
In Another Life, I Was the Booze Writer for a Website That No Longer Exists
Eddie Melo had opened Emiliano’s, briefly Montreal’s only upscale Mexican restaurant — and since closed, naturally. He invited me to a tequila and mezcal tasting. The video below was filmed that evening, by a crew from the publication that no longer exists, in a restaurant that no longer exists. It survived on YouTube because I had the foresight to upload it before everything disappeared.
The tequila, manifestly, did not disappear. Here are the six bottles we tasted.
Tequila Don Julio Blanco
The hardest case to make in the silver category, as a rule. This one is above the fray: lime, orange, a faintly saline backbone, and a finish that recalls jalapeño. If you absolutely must have a blanco on your shelf, this is the one.
Tequila Herradura Reposado
My firmly-held conviction: silvers, even the best ones, should stay on the shelf. It’s with the reposado that the conversation actually begins. The Herradura is complex without being pushy — vanilla, butter, salinity on the finish. Dangerously easy to drink.
Tequila Hornitos Añejo Black Barrel
Aged in scotch barrels. It exits the standard tequila register entirely — tastes almost like bourbon, and not by accident. If you want a classic tequila, walk past it. If you enjoy complex, slightly peaty spirits, it’s fascinating.
Mezcal Tinieblo Joven
Smoky, herbaceous, bitter, unequivocal. Mezcal in its most direct form. Nothing subtle. Everything intentional.
Mezcal Los Cuerudos Joven con Gusano
With a worm. Does the worm objectively improve the mezcal? No. Subjectively — I tested the theory in Oaxaca with Ely — probably yes. Softer, less aggressive than the Tinieblo. You taste the Oaxacan earth, the fire, the hot air. Poetry in a bottle, with an invertebrate in it.
Mezcal Escorpion Añejo
The bottle is of a merciless kitsch. Small sombrero. Scorpion illustration. In Oaxaca, you can find it with a real scorpion inside — which, if you’ve survived the worm, seems like the logical next step. But the product is serious: the smoke yields ground, replaced by wood, leather, tobacco. The best of the six.
And Now: The Cocktail Eddie Made That Evening
The restaurant has closed. The recipe deserves to survive.
Calaca Tropical – Tequila Cocktail
A tropical reposado tequila cocktail born in the kitchen of a Montreal restaurant that no longer exists. Falernum brings spice and almond complexity; fresh lime juice keeps it honest; mango softens without flattening. Simple to make, difficult to forget.
Ingredients
- 40 ml Tequila 1800 Reserva Reposado (Or any reposado tequila)
- 30 ml falernum
- 22 ml fresh lime juice (freshly squeezed)
- 15 ml mango purée
Equipment
- shaker
- highball glass
- ice
- Hawthorne strainer
Method
- Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice.
- Shake vigorously for about ten seconds.
- Strain through the Hawthorne strainer directly into an ice-filled highball glass.
Presentation
- Garnish with a fresh mango wedge or a lime twist.
Notes
READ MORE: Dark Margarita with Añejo Tequila
