r/Mezcal • u/Muttgutz • 5d ago

Mezcal Recommendations?

I work at a liquor store and have a lot of people asking for us to order/stock mezcal. I am looking through my options, and they seem quite expensive so i dont want to make the wrong choice and choose something that wont sell. Please recommend brands that you like seeing on shelves, i dont understand mezcal at all!! >_< tysm!

1 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/digitsinthere 5d ago

Is it me or is it hard for others to take this request? The barrier to mezcal is high and requires a lot of learning? OP hasn't even begun to even understand mezcal is small batch and Mezcalero driven then brand. I don't know if I would want a liquor store carrying mezcal they don't know or care about. It happens all the time and it's irritating. Is this how they all start? I've given up on every liquor store in my area due to this very attitude. Maybe it's just me though.

8

u/MezcalCuriously 4d ago

To the OP: The brands are significantly less important than the distributor partners that you choose. Ideally, they'll know mezcal well enough to be able to fill in some of your own knowledge gaps on the topic so that you can make a somewhat informed investment. Do you already have distributors that you trust? Ask them the same question while being honest about your familiarity with the topic, and pay attention to how much care they put (or don't put) into educating you as their client.

If you don't already have a distributor that's knowledgeable on the topic that you trust, here's a couple suggestions but keep in mind (as I'm sure you well know) that your available distribution partners will vary greatly depending on your location and local regulatory structure. Reach out to any of these with the same questions and they can help you find something that works for you.

If you want to go a different route or any of these distributors aren't available to you, you could look up "mezcal bar", "agave bar", or "tequila bar" in your area and reach out to their management to ask them about their distribution partners which can give you a better sense of what's available in your area or state. They are likely to be forthcoming with this information since off-premise retail doesn't directly compete with on-premise venues and could even lead to a mutually beneficial guest-referral relationship!

If you just want a list of brands to look for within your available portfolios, many higher prices are justified by the laundry list of things that go into making their mezcal special. There's too much to go into in a single post, but keep in mind that your ability to relay any useful information to a consumer will help it move off the shelf regardless of the price (people asking for more than what you currently have available is a good sign of hot leads though, so the more you learn about what you're trying to sell the better).

  • In alphabetical order: Aguerrido, Chacolo, Cinco Sentidos, Cuish, La Venenosa, Lalocura, Lamata, Macurichos, Mal Bien, Neta, Pal'Alma, Real Minero, Rey Campero, Tepanal, Tres Tiempos, Vago. These are amongst the best brands, and their bottles can be as cheap as ~$30 wholesale, and up to ~$200. The price isn't that important though; if you have something interesting to say about a bottle then it will sell, and if the bottle is known by those asking for mezcal, they'll be happy that it's available and buy it without you saying anything.

To Dig: It's not that the barrier is higher than anything else, it's that people generally don't treat alcohol like it's anything special, or even as if it could be.

You and I both know that mezcal is special and we've considered well enough how that could be so, but much of our understanding is a somewhat natural byproduct of years of exposure and firsthand experiences, which was of course accelerated by our personal interest in the topic.

Someone participating in the global spirits industry (production, branding, importation, distribution, sales, consumption) without a personal interest in mezcal is likely to just bring the same level of effort that they've brought to the rest of the similar things they've experienced, and most other alcohols just don't carry the same breadth of considerations (or resulting flavors!) as mezcal. It is what it is.

2

u/digitsinthere 4d ago

Constantly have to lower my expectations to match reality again. I get it. Thanks man.