Join Tales of the Cocktail on Tour and Experience Mezcal in Oaxaca April 21-23!
Tales of the Cocktail® on Tour attendees will have the opportunity to visit four working palenques (rustic mezcal distilleries), learning variations on the production process from artisan and traditional maestros mezcaleros. Throughout the three days, attendees will sample a wide range of mezcals as well as several varieties of maguey (agave), giving a broad and deep understanding of this legendary spirit. Tales on Tour attendees can be a part of this exclusive tour for $590 without board, $775 with a double hotel room and $915 for a single room.April 21: Guests will be welcomed to the city of Oaxaca with a ceviche and mezcal reception hosted by Vago Mezcal, makers of high-quality traditional mezcals from a variety of agaves.
April 22: After a hearty Oaxacan breakfast, guests will hit the road early with Dr. Ivan Saldañ—the biologist behind Montelobos mezcal and Ancho Reyes—for a leap into pre-history. Ivan will guide guests through Oaxaca’s evolution from cave dwellings to pulque culture, to the centrality of agaves to Mesoamerican civilizations. Guests will then visit a traditional pulquería, tasting agave in various forms and see how an earth-oven full of agave is unloaded at Montelobos. Following lunch, guests will visit a local palenque specializing in wild agave varietals, where they’ll have the chance to sample mezcal made from over a dozen wild and rare species. Later, we’ll convene at mezcal scholar Ulíses Torrentera’s “In Situ” mezcaleria for a curated tasting from the author of Mezcalaria.
April 23: Guests will get an early start to Santa Catarina Minas, famous for the tradition of hand-mashing agave and distilling with clay pots and bamboo. Hosted at the legendary Real Minero by the father-daughter duo of Lorenzo and Graciela Ángeles, producers of some of the world’s most distinctive mezcals. After lunch, attendees will head east through rolling hills boasting wild agave karwinskii to the village of San Dionisio Ocotepec. Fifth generation master distiller Beto Morales, producer of Wahaka Mezcal, will host guests at the family palenque, ending the day and the tour with a toast in a beautiful Southern Mexico setting.