Tequila & Mezcal Tasting Set (8 x 50 ml)

This is a sampling set rather than a single bottle, eight 50 ml miniatures assembled to walk a drinker across Mexico's agave categories and a little beyond. It gathers a Los Muertos blanco, an Avion silver blanco, a 30-30 anejo and a TU reposado tequila, set against a Lajita mezcal rested with a worm, a Tecuan mezcal, a Los Muertos dry gin and a Herencia de Plata coffee liqueur. Several houses and styles sit side by side for comparison.

The tequilas here are made from Blue Weber agave in the usual way, steam cooked and twice distilled, ranging from unaged and citrus-bright to oak-rested with vanilla and caramel. The mezcals come from Espadin agave roasted in earth pits, which is where their ember and woodsmoke notes originate, never from peat. Tasting them in sequence shows how cook, still and ageing pull the same plant in very different directions.