Mezcal Tasting (May 14th, 2021)
This is our 1st Mezcal Tasting. The bottles in question were;
| TT Label | Description | Proof | Rating | Price (CAD$) |
| E | Marca Negra Espadin | 98 | 4.0 | $85.00 + GST |
| B | Los Siete Misterios Espadin | 92 | 5.6 | $91.00 + GST |
| H | 5 Sentidos Azul (not an Espadin) | 95 | 5.5 | $110.00 + GST |
| C | El Jolgorio Mezcal Espadin | 95.6 | 6.8 | $167.00 |
| A | Alipus San Juan | 95 | 7.1 | $84.00 + GST |
| F | Koch El Mezcal Artesanal Espadin | 94 | 6.9 | $52.00 + GST |
| G | Bruxo 1 Espadin | 92 | 5.5 | $68.00 + GST |
| D | Amores Verde Momento | 82.8 | 7.4 | $61.00 |
I knew nothing about Mezcal before April, 2021, so I had to do a lot of research to figure out what bottles to buy, and how to frame it. Reddit was a big help, the Mezcal group. I chose a lot of the Espadin which is rather conservative of me, but I chose the better brands, the more exclusive, smaller Mezcal producers, not the industrial producers. There was only one industrial style Mezcal producer included.
Most of these were imported from Calgary, so I need to add $10 for shipping to each bottle to be fair on pricing, and 5% GST.
We did the tasting accompanied by slices of oranges, and ‘worm salt”, to get the full effect. I drank it straight after the first two attempts with the “worm salt”, but others did like it.
Thank you to Maria for bringing it back direct from Mexico.
So the winner was ‘D’, which was the one I bought last minute, from LCBO, and is the most like ‘tequila’, and more of an industrial Mezcal, sadly. Even that one, as a group only got a 7.4/10, so we aren’t big fans of Mezcal, usually the winner gets at least an 8..
The voting made the bottles end up into 3 groups, all had a possible score of 170. There were 4, over 110 out of a possible 170, D at 126, A at 120, F at 118, and C at 116, with prices ranging from $52/bottle, to $167/bottle. A, F, G with 2 point difference between them is obviously negligible. The 2nd group is all in the 90s, which out of 170, isn’t so good. There were 3 in this group, B, G, H. B at 95, G at 93, H at 94. Prices ranging from $68 – $110. The one all by itself was E at 68/170, and it was also the highest proof (E-98), not sure of there is a co-relation there, the lowest proof won the competition (D-83).
We’ll have to see if we do another Mezcal, there were votes for doing it again, and many were happy they at least ‘tried it’.
The next tasting is Gin, our first Gin tasting will be on June 18, 2021
The Winners!
1st Place, (74%, $62)
2nd Place (71%, $84)
3rd Place (69%, $52)
The Survey Results
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | |
| Dane | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Chris | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 5 |
| Jenn | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| Tara | 6 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 1 |
| Stephanie | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| Erin | 7 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Stacie | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| Mike K | 7 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 7 |
| Tim O | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Maria | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Becky N | 7 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 5 |
| Marcia | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Brooke | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| Kelly J | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Wayne | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Neil | 6 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Jerry | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 2 |
| Total | 120 | 95 | 116 | 126 | 68 | 118 | 94 | 93 |
| Avg | 70.6 | 55.9 | 68.2 | 74.1 | 40.0 | 69.4 | 55.3 | 54.7 |
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