Dallas-Fort Worth drinkers are familiar with tequila’s charms. The popular liquor anchors margaritas and palomas and finds its way into countless glasses at Mexican restaurants, on sunny patios and during happy hours across town.
Over the past few years, mezcal has become increasingly popular and can now be found at dedicated mezcal bars, Tex-Mex joints and every serious cocktail bar.
According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., tequila and mezcal, combined, were the second-fastest-growing spirits category in 2021, outpacing everything except premixed cocktails. But these powerhouse drinks don’t represent the sum of Mexico’s native liquors, and D-FW bars and restaurants are increasingly serving other Mexican spirits, including sotol, bacanora and raicilla, as well as Mexican-made rums, whiskeys and gins.
“Mexican spirits are really a celebration of regionality,” says Shad Kvetko, co-owner of Las Almas Rotas, the James Beard-nominated bar across from Fair Park. “There’s no umbrella way of producing them. The source material and culture differ from region to region, and there’s almost endless variation, even state to state and village to village.”
Tequila is often viewed as the ultimate agave spirit, but that’s due more to accessibility than history.
“Mezcal is like the mother of agave spirits,” says Carlos Marquez, bar manager at José, the celebrated restaurant led by chef Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman, a James Beard Award semifinalist.
Location matters
Tequila, bacanora and raicilla are all technically mezcals, but they’re differentiated by style and location.
Bacanora hails from the Mexican state of Sonora and is made from the agave Pacifica plant. It was outlawed for much of the 20th century due to local prohibition, but bootleggers persisted with hidden stills until it was legalized in 1992. Bacanora is often dry, peppery and earthy because of its arid environment, and it’s less smoky than mezcal.
Marquez explains that raicilla is made in a similar way to mezcal, but it’s a protected product of Jalisco that is distilled from specific agave plants. The pit-roasted agave piñas are fermented and usually just distilled once, resulting in flavors that range widely, from smoky and savory to fruity and funky.
Sotol is made from the desert spoon plant, which grows primarily across northern Mexico’s Chihuahua region, but it can also be found in West Texas, southern New Mexico and southern Arizona. Its aromas and flavors vary based on location, microclimate and producer, and sotol can be green and herbaceous, earthy and savory, or lightly smoky.
Just like tequila and mezcal, bacanora and raicilla are protected via a Denominación de Origen (DO) that states they can only be made in Mexico. This is similar to how Champagne must be made in France and how bourbon is native to the U.S. Sotol is not recognized by the United States as an exclusively Mexican product, so it can be made stateside — two Texas distillers are already making it, and more are in the works.
Beyond agave
There’s more to Mexican spirits than solely those derived from agave. The country has a rich history of making rum, but only charanda has a DO of its own, explains Mauricio Gallegos, co-owner of Xaman Café and Ayahuasca Cantina in Oak Cliff. Distilled from sugarcane, charanda must be produced in certain municipalities within the state of Michoacán, and that provenance gives it a different profile than rums produced in the Caribbean or Central America. “The flavor is funkier,” Gallegos says.
Marquez notes that Mexico also makes whiskeys and gins. Abasolo whiskey is made from 100% ancestral corn that is nixtamalized, roasted, fermented and distilled. Sierra Norte whiskey is made from a blend of 85% Oaxacan heritage corn and 15% malted barley. Gracias a Dios is one popular producer that supplements its mezcal portfolio with a lineup of unique agave-based gins. There’s also a wide variety of Mexican liqueurs, including Nixta, a corn liqueur packaged in a corn cob-shaped bottle, and Ancho Reyes, a spicy chile liqueur from Pueblo.
Mexican distillers also produce liquors that fall outside any particular designation. Kvetko says that some are made similarly to tequila or mezcal, but they aren’t made in the protected locations, so they can’t use the terms on their labels. Others adhere to the specified requirements but don’t pay to get certified. And some would have to alter their ancestral production techniques to fit into the regulatory minutiae of the DO, so they choose to stay the course.
“We call these ‘uncertified spirits.’ It’s a growing category, and as the curiosity for Mexican spirits grows in this country, it’s not as big of an impediment as it used to be,” Kvetko says. “Back in the day, if it didn’t say tequila, you had no chance to sell it. Now, people are seeking those out.”
Many brands don’t produce enough bottles to attract large distributors, but Texas drinkers are fortunate to have several boutique operations that pick up these smaller spirit lines.
Las Almas Rotas is a great option for sampling Mexico’s diverse spirits, with a well-organized list broken down by style, producer and agave plant varietal. The bar serves cocktails, but Kvetko always suggests trying spirits neat, since that is the truest representation of their character.
Ruins, in Deep Ellum, has an extensive spirits list focused on Mexican and South American bottles. Sit at the bar to sample sotol, raicilla, charanda and Mexican-made gins, rums and whiskeys.
José and Ayahuasca Cantina serve sotol, charanda and raicilla, plus Mexican whiskeys and gins. La Viuda Negra on Fitzhugh Avenue stocks its bar with dozens of mezcals, but it also serves sotol, raicilla and other Mexican spirits. And Tinies in Fort Worth serves a small selection of sotol and raicilla.
Mezcal and especially tequila are still the most ubiquitous Mexican bottles across D-FW, but more Mexican spirits are finding shelf space every day. The best examples aren’t cheap, especially when dealing with the lesser-known varieties, but Kvetko says that’s how it should be.
“The price point is generally higher, and rightfully so when you look at how they’re produced,” Kvetko says. “The word artisanal gets thrown around a lot, but these are truly handmade spirits from start to finish.”