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Getting to Oaxaca was a fairly simple affair. The bus from Guatemala was bearable, including a change over for a few hours in the beautiful San Cristobal de Las Casas for dinner and a beer before continuing on through the night. One of, if not THE biggest factor guiding us to Oaxaca was mezcal. Produced from the fermented and distilled agua miel of the agave plant, with a huge range of flavours oweing to the many different factors that can come in to play. What type of agave is used? How long is the fermentation? How is it crushed? What type or shape of stills are used? This is basic knowledge for anyone interested in the production of alcohol even slightly, however the range of flavours I was to find took me by surprise.

Oaxaca is a stunning city. Centred round the zocalo, or main square, the streets leading off are built for walking. You’ll find it difficult to walk the streets without being offered a mezcal or a ‘crema’ – a sweet, often fruit based mezcal cream. More often than not though, this is the mass produced rubbish you should stay away from.

You’ll be wanting to taste the good stuff, and this is how...

City Centre:

Basing ourselves in Oaxaca was the best idea. Not only can the surrounding villages be accessed by bus or taxi, there are little accommodation options in many of the smaller villages. Oaxaca itself has some great places to try out the elixir. Start off by grabbing some lunch at La Biznaga, and try a glass of pulque. This is a beer-like beverage fermented using the aguamiel – or honey water – tapped from the agave.

Take a walk round the city, enjoy the zocálo, stopping at the 20 Noviembre Mercado for a tlayuda con chorizo before hitting some of the city’s’ bars. The market also has a decent mezcal selection, should you want to buy.

Night time is easily sorted. Oaxaca is home to some of the best mezcalerias in the country. You can check these out here

We focused on three villages, however these are not definitive and there are many more to discover if you’re adventurous enough.

How to get to the villages:

Pick up a map from your hotel, and note the collectivo points. You can take shared cabs and buses to most villages, with a possible changeover along the way. For Matatlán, start with one to Tlacolula and change over. These start in the south west of the centre. Camionetas (trucks with seats in the back) can be used to hitch onward rides. Feeling flusher than us? Take a private cab.

Santiago Matatlán – World Capital of Mezcal.

We spent a good few hours here checking out the process and tasting. This is the most ‘touristy’ area, if you could use the word. We checked out Perla Blanca, who producing at the time, and utilizing a horse and tahona (stone wheel), they make an easy drinking blanco and a decent gusano. Ray Zapoteco is also a good one for viewing the processes. Take a tuk tuk to Palenque Mal De Amor for some lunch, a tasting, and a look at their production process.

Santa Catarina Minas

A shared taxi to Ocotlán then a camioneta to Santa Catarina is the cheapest way to get here. Mina Real do an organized tour here, call ahead. We attempted to visit palenquero Felix Ángeles Arellanes, however a shortage of water meant the Palenque was not operating. Asking a local is the easiest way to find the palenques if you don’t have any in mind. We were led to a few drunk palenqueros on the main street. From baby rattlesnakes to armadillos up jacket sleeves, this was some madness. They produce a few brands, and a fair bit of mezcal, utilizing clay stills.

San Lorenzo Albarradas

Head out towards Hierve El Agua, a park containing natural rock pools and stagnant waterfalls overlooking a lush valley. On the way, you’ll pass by a few palenques. To check out a few of these, you’ll need to be in a private car or taxi which can stop at your whim. We had lunch at Comedor El Tigre, who do an incredible BBQ chicken soup, with everything cooked without the use of electricity. Oh and they also make a great reposado, distilled at the adjoining palenque. And the price? 500ml for 25pesos. Bargain. Want a lot? Bring your own bottles, they don’t have ‘em, or labels either for that matter.

Those looking to learn more can head to Amate Books on Calle Macedonio, and pick up a few mezcal based titles including Ulisses Torrentera’s excellent ‘Mezcalaria’. An indispensable guide for maps, which include the city centre’s bars, the outlying villages and their palenques, is Desconocido México Magazine’s ‘Ruta Del Mezcal’ magazine.

You can see our video of this trip here

Want to see more Oaxaca? Click here

#oaxaca #mezcal #how to

Although the walk here from the zocalo is a little *cough* interesting, passing by the ladies of the night working their magic, it's worth it. It's more than a shop than a bar, but you can pull up a pew and watch the world go down over a madrecuishe and rest in the knowledge that you're helping out organic agave farmers, and in the process drinking some fucking nice mezcal. Buying by the bottle is the norm here, and it's very well priced. Can't decide? You can have a try or sample by the glass if you ask nicely enough. Try the tobaziche, full of mentholly goodness and easily our favourite.

https://www.facebook.com/mezcalcuish.mx

#bars #oaxaca #mexico #mezcal

Oaxaca, Mexico - We spent 8 days touring mezcal palenques, drinking the stuff from jerry cans at parades, hanging out with drunk mezcaleros with armadillos up their sleeves and other such nonsense, enjoy!

#oaxaca #mexico #mezcal #videos

Start things off with a beer and a Joven, my favourite combo which also happens to be one of their offers. Then go for a flight - one of each Joven, Reposado and Anejo.

Live music is played every night, there's a variety of infusions and other drinks to keep the girls happy, and the food has a good rep. Over that side of the world? Check it out.

http://cafenose.com

#bars #guatemala #antigua #mezcal

Stepping off the plane, I fell at the first hurdle by expecting to find heavy pot stilled beauties like Smith and Cross widely available. Schoolboy error number one. I quickly found that if I wanted to shake it like the locals, I’d have to order a glass of Wray and Neph or JB Over-proof (both 63% alcohol, with notes of pear, apple, and raw, stomach churning ethanol). Choose a mixer if you see fit, however when it’s time to get down to business, straight up in a plastic cup is how I roll. Having a career in hospitality has shaped my liver and my taste buds to such nonsense, and for me it goes down a treat, but for first timers – beware of the potency!

To most of the world, Wray is merely the go to over-proof rum, used to light up lime shells in tiki drinks and knock back to get hammered when you’re high on enthusiasm and low on time, usually approached with caution in sobriety and rightly so. In Jamaica however, it’s an all powerful liquid with healing properties (we heeded to a local tip – try some on your mosquito bites!) used to christen newborn babies, send off the dead to the life beyond, ward off fevers and colds, and even expectant mothers in labour have a bottle of ‘Whites’ -as it’s affectionately known- to hand. Accounting for 90% of rum sales domestically, it becomes clearly apparent that it’s the island staple.

Being shouted over for a drink by locals was a daily occurrence, and the ubiquitous ‘rum shops’ is where the real action is. Most are simple shacks, decorated in bright colours and do what they say on the tin. Forget shiny hotel bars and overpriced beach resorts, it’s at these shacks we made friends with locals, bar owners, ganja farmers and village idiots.

And it’s not restricted to bars either – on a few occasions we bought some rum and headed for a spot on the cliffs to watch the sunset, with reggae playing all around and washed down with an ice-cold Red Stripe.

Part of the grass family, the sweet sugar cane arrived in Jamaica with that master of colonization, big Christo Columbus, sometime around the end of the 15th Century. What old Chris didn’t expect was 50-year-old sipping rums, classic cocktails such as the Rum Punch, and powerhouse throat burning over-proofs. It’s a shame he’s not here to sample the tempting powers of a TingWray (Wray and Nephew mixed with Ting – Jamaica’s famous grapefruit soda) on a Friday night for himself. Fast forward a few turbulent years and arrive in present day Jamaica. The fertile, mountainous landscape is ideal for growing cane here, and the predominant use of pot stills craft the estery goodness that has become synonymous with the island.

They are a friendly bunch, those Jamaicans, very protective of tourists, and not the least bit hesitant at fishing for a drinking buddy. Bear in mind that you will most likely end up paying for the round and the smooth-talking lads will make a stellar attempt at chatting up your woman, but hey, rum is cheap and good times are free of charge. I can take it, honest…

Towards the end of the trip I booked in for a tour at the Appleton Estate, the islands’ most famous of its six distilleries. Nestled in the lush Nassau Valley in the southwest and having been harvesting and distilling since 1749, it’s old, and there’s plenty of ancient equipment kicking about the yard and the guides know their shit. A welcome Rum Punch begins the show and after a tour of the distillery and grounds, we were led to the tasting saloon and left alone with no less than eight bottles of rum to dive into. This alone made me click my heels like Billy Elliot finding a winning lottery ticket in a gutter outside the theatre, but the free mini bottle of Wray at the end was the piece d’ résistance.

The gift shop was well stocked, with a litre of the 12 year old priced at $34, a bargain, and definitely a purchase slightly regretted after realizing we flew out in 24 hours with no room available in our bags. Cue a challenge, and I’m ecstatic to say I won, if winning is the correct term for drinking a litre of 43% alcohol in a single sitting.

With only a slight headache (luck on my side!) we packed our bags on the final balmy morning in Kingston and headed to Norman Manley International to catch our little plane to Cuba. It was here at that big boys shop of wonder and awe that is Duty Free that I finally spotted it. Rum Fire. An elusive over-proof crafted by the gents at Hampden Distillery that I’d tried to find for over two weeks to no avail. And at $2.50 for a quarter, well, you’d have been thick as a Rasta’s dreadlock to say no. The Duty Free also has other goodies, such as Blackwell’s Rum (by Chris Blackwell of Island Records fame) and the Moneymusk range.

Not one to miss an opportunity to have one on the ground but three in the air, and thanks to the generosity of Cayman Airways and their welcoming Rum Punch onboard on the way to Grand Cayman from Jamaica, I was able to finally taste the Fire by spiking myself at 30,000 feet. The happiness wasn’t to last, however, and upon checking through customs in transit at Grand Cayman (schoolboy error number two), it was duly snatched from my loving arms by a burly security scanner, AKA The Fun Police. With the memories intact, however, the realization is this: It’s not the rum that takes centre stage in Jamaica; it’s what happens when you’re drinking it that does. It’s the friends that are made, the jokes that are told and the flirting that will never stop, coupled with the stunning surroundings and even the hangovers that make it all worthwhile.

#bars #rum #jamaica #how to

As a former Trader Vic’s from the 50’s which turned into the government-run Polinesio, this place is home to some incredible tiki ornaments and décor, think Easter Island statues, shipping memorabilia, a host of vintage kitsch, and as the photos on the wall show, the décor has remained largely the same ever since.

Housed at the bottom of the Havana Libre Hotel, the former Havana Hilton that was renamed and used as a base by Fidel after the Revolution, it’s of no surprise that the whole place reeks with history.

We sunk a few cocktails in original Trader Vic’s tiki mugs, which have withstood the test of time (and Ebay!) and chilled out on the comfy sofas near the bar. Although the drinks can be sickly sweet and have since become interpretations of what they once were, it’s worthwhile checking out to see a piece of history or tuck into exotic Asian and Polynesian dishes and watch classic rock music videos on the TVs. Funky.

#bars #havana #cuba #tiki

Since it’s inclusion in a certain guidebook series, it’s no longer a hidden gem however locals outnumber tourists to sink good cocktails and order their famous tapas, cooked up by a multitasking cheftender in a corner behind the bar, frying shrimps while cutting lime wedges. Impressive.

We sat at the bar and ordered $2 cocktails, beer and rum and waited for a table (it’s tiny!). Go easy on your tapas order – you get a lot of munchies for your dinero.

Music during the day is as relaxed as the vibe -think Amy Winehouse or Adele - but when darkness falls the atmosphere picks up. If there are no tables, perch at the bar and watch the masters at work, kick back and enjoy the buzz.

ABBEY BREWING CO.

HAVEN

KILL YOUR IDOL

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