Mezcalistas Susan Coss (a DC native!) and Max Garrone brought their traveling celebration of everything mezcal to DC on May 1st. Mexico in a Bottle, the biggest mescal tasting in the U.S. is the duo’s celebration of mezcal and Mexican food celebrated where else? At the Mexican Cultural Institute.
Before we move on, let’s cover the basics……….what is mezcal exactly? Often described as “tequila’s smoky cousin” mezcal generally means anything distilled from the agave plant. (Much like wine is to “anything fermented from grapes.”) Tequila on the other hand can only be made from a single type of agave. Got it? Good, let’s move on to the sips!
The event provided an incredible variety of mezcals for sipping as well as flavorful small bites from some of the area’s best Mexican restaurants. This year’s participating restaurants included Oyamel, Espita Mezcaleria and Restaurant, and Bar Clavel. To wash down your bites, the event featured more than 100 mezcal cocktail sips from an impressive array that included: Illegal Mezcal, Agave de Cortes, Garcias a Dios, Mezcales de Leyenda, El Buho and La Venenosa, just to name a few.
Other participating partners in the event were, Manos de Maiz, an organization celebrating the work of local farmers harvesting corn and La Cocina VA, a non-profit that trains immigrants for jobs in the hospitality industry.
To learn more about Manos de Maiz stop by the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market every Saturday from 9am to 1pm and pick up some of their tasty treats!
If you would like to donate or volunteer with La Cocina VA check them out here
To learn more about mezcal and find mezcal-tasting events check out Susan and Max’s blog Mezcalistas. Bummed, you missed Mexico in a Bottle DC? Fear not! The Mezcalitas will be bringing their mezcal-tasting event to Chicago and San Francisco later this year. To learn more check out the event site Mexico in a Bottle.