Mezcals and tequilas are making a big comeback in Malaysia with a couple of new brands being launched recently. — Photos: Michael Cheang/The Star
Agave spirits, especially mezcal, have been making waves in the bartending world in the past few years. In fact, one of Asia’s best bars is a mezcal bar – Hong Kong’s Coa, which topped the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023, before being dethroned by another Hong Kong bar, Bar Leone this year.
Last month, the founder of Coa, Jay Khan, was in Kuala Lumpur with his other bar, The Savory Project, for a guest shift at Bangsar bar Three X Co, and conducted a masterclass on agave spirits before that.
The name mezcal is derived from the Nahuatl words ‘mexcalli metl’ and ‘ixcalli’, which means “oven-cooked agave”. It can only be produced in Mexico, and is made from the agave plant. Yes, just like tequila, but the main difference is, tequila can only be made from one single type of agave – blue agave.
The law for mezcal production (known as Norma), however, stipulate that mezcal can be made from five species of agave – the most commonly used is Espadin, while others include tobalá, tobaziche, tepeztate and arroqueño.
The laws also allows for mezcal made with agave with the required amount of sugar content that grow within the nine regions of production within Mexico, namely Oaxaca (which makes the most mezcal), Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Puebla and Michoacan.
Jay Khan, the founder of Coa bar in Hong Kong, was in Malaysia on two seperate occasions to conduct guests shifts and masterclasses recently.
There are six classes of mezcal, according to Khan. First, there is Joven, which is unaged mezcal, followed by Madurado, which is mezcal aged in large glass bottles for a minimum of one year in dark places or underground; Reposado (mezcal aged for a period of 2 – 12 months in barrels using any type of wood) and Añejo (mezcal aged for a period of minimum 12 months in any type of wood).
Then there is Abocado (mezcal infused with fruit or other things such as gusanos etc. to add flavour and colour), and ‘Destilado con’, which is mezcal distilled with fruit or chicken or turkey, rabbit and so on (Pechuga, a sub-category where raw meat such as chicken, rabbit, boar, and even iguana is infused into the spirit through distillation, is also part of this class).
Mezcal can be made in three different ways. Those made with an industrial process are typically mass produced with non-traditional production methods.
Afficionados would usually go for mezcal artisanal to ancestral. The former is made with a traditional process of cooking in earthen pits or brick/clay ovens crushed with at least a mechanical mill; while the latter uses an ‘ultra traditional process’ in which the agave is cooked in earthen pits crushed with tahona and distilled in clay pots.
The range of Siete Misterios mezcals at the tasting.
During the masterclass, we were introduced to a new range of mezcal called ‘Los Siete Misterios’ (Spanish for ‘The Seven Mysteries’). Founded in 2010 by brothers Eduardo and Julio Mestre, the brand places a huge emphasis on preserving the traditional and ancestral methods of mezcal production. The brothers spent years sampling mezcal from villages across Oaxaca, meeting local Maestros Mezcaleros who use traditional techniques honed over generations, before coming up with their own contemporary approach to traditional mezcal.
Eduardo and Julio work with several different palenques (mezcal distilleries) and maestro mezcaleros (master mezcal distillers) in Oaxaca. They also have their own family palenque in Sola de Vega.
The masterclass also included a tasting of five different Siete Misterios expressions, each made with a different mix of agave, and unique its in own right.
First up was the Doba-Yej, which is the brand’s most accessible expression. Bright and floral with beautifully balanced citrus notes, Doba-Yej (which means Maguey Espadín in the ancient Zapotec language) is designed to be mixed with cocktails.
The Smacked Cucumber Salad cocktail made with Siete Misterios Doba-Yej was served at the Three X Co guest shift.
During a guest shift with The Savory Project at Three X Co after the masterclass, Khan served a cocktail called ‘Smacked Cucumber Salad’ that is based on Hong Kong’s famous snack of the same name, using the Doba-Yej with cucumber, Chinese salad sauce, lime, ginger honey, chilli. While the Mezcal’s smoky nature was prominent, it was a perfect balance to the drink’s overall savoury, spicy cucumber notes.
A few of the other mezcals we tried were ‘ensamble’ mezcals, made with two or more different agaves, but the highlight of the tasting was a mezcal made using only Tobala, known as ‘King of the Magueys’.
Tobala is apparently recognised as the crown jewel of mezcal because of its beauty, rarity, and unique taste. The agave is very different from most other varietals, being physically smaller, and very different leaves compared to the more commonly used Espadín. It is also unique in the sense that it can only be reproduced through seeds, unlike most Agaves which can also produce offshoots, hence making it rarer and harder to make into mezcal.
The Siete Misterios Tobala mezcal was a real eye-opener. I found it very creamy on the palate, with lots of vanilla grass notes. There is a salty umaminess to it, herbal and grassy, with hints of ginger torch flower (or bunga kantan) even.
Coincidentally, Khan returned to Malaysia again in September, this time for the second annual Penang Cocktail Week (PCW). This time, he was representing Coa for a guest shift at Backdoor Bodega, and instead of using mezcal, he made drinks with tequila, specifically a brand called Volcan de Mi Tierra.
Now, Volcan tequila isn’t exactly new in Malaysia. The spirit made its debut here last year with its ultra premium expression, Volcan XA. This year, however, we’ve seen the full core range enter the market, and we got to try it at a masterclass conducted by Sherrie Yap of Moët Hennessy Diageo Malaysia at Penang Cocktail Week.
First, a bit about the tequila. Volcan de Mi Tierra means ‘Land of the Volcano’, and claims to be the ‘only additive-free prestige tequila’ in the market. It also uses blue agave from two different terroir, highlands and lowlands, to create an agave spirit that is quite unique.
We tried five different tequilas during the tasting, and it was definitely one of the highlights of PCW for me.
Volcan tequila is the latest range of premium tequilas to enter the Malaysian market.
The Volcan Blanco is a blend of agave terroirs, with the herbal spicy notes of the Lowlands and the floral fruity notes of the Highlands. on the nose, it has sweet agave, not too overpowering, with agave honey notes, while on the palate, there were punchy fruit and herbaceous notes, light berries, orchard fruits.
In another happy coincidence, Khan also made the Smacked Cucumber Salad at his Penang shift, and I got to taste the difference between the one made with mezcal and tequila. While the former has more smoky notes, the more herbaceous tequila-made one stood out more for me.
The Volcan core range is also in Malaysia now.
The other core expressions of Volcan we tried during the masterclass were the wonderfully mellow and honyed Reposado (made with just Highland agave, and aged in American and European oak casks); and the exceptional Cristalino, which is a blend of reposado and anejo tequilas from the Lowlands, aged in American oak and then filtered to ‘remove the wood colour’ and created crystal clear spirit.
This was my favourite of the five, with a nose full of chocolates, caramel, toffee, and hint of smoke; and a palate of more chocolates, laced with agave honey richer than the reposado, but yet mellow as well.
Jay Khan also made drinks with Volcan tequila at the recent Penang Cocktail Week.
From there, we moved on to the more ultra premium expressions. First up was the Blanco Tahona, recognisable by its tall, pure white bottle. A small batch tequila made with ancestral methods, it was like an enhanced version of the Blanco, but richer and creamier, with a grassy and spiced nose with wonderful cooked agave notes. On the palate, the grassy note hits first, and then moves on to agave herbalness and berries too.
The top of the range for Volcan, however, is the XA, which is a blend of Reposado, Añejo and Extra Añejo tequilas. On the nose, it had very bright agave notes, green apples, light vanilla, and coconut. The palate is where it stood out most though, with medium sweet grassy, fruity and herbal notes, sweet and sensual, cooked green fruits, like a lighter bitter melon without the bitterness.
Between these two brands, and with more coming into the market as well, it looks like agave spirits is truly on the up and up in Malaysia.
Michael Cheang will never give Mezcal a miss. Follow him on Instagram (@Mytipsyturvy) and Facebook (fb.com/mytipsyturvy).
