The spirit of Mexico: Tastings spotlight complexity of tequila

Scenes from The Spirits of Mexico event, which offers tequila tastings for numerous brands and includes seminars led by professionals who cover the history and culture of each spirit, teach proper tasting techniques and impart wisdom about current trends. less Scenes from The Spirits of Mexico event, which offers tequila tastings for numerous brands and includes seminars led by professionals who cover the history and culture of each spirit, teach proper tasting ... more Photo: Luis Garcia-Rivera Photo: Luis Garcia-Rivera Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close The spirit of Mexico: Tastings spotlight complexity of tequila 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Perhaps Mexico's most famous export, tequila has come a long way from its onetime frat-party niche where fortitude was measured by the number of shots, buffered by licks of salt and lime, you could down. Not so long ago, travelers were often surprised to encounter the wide variety and high quality of tequila they encountered in Mexico. In the right hands, the nectar of the blue agave actually is as refined and complex as any fine whiskey or wine.

Though Mexico strictly regulates tequila exports, more and more previously unknown brands have been making it north of the border — so many, in fact, that it's hard to know what to choose. There are a couple of constants: Always look for 100 percent blue agave (the name "tequila" can be applied to anything above 50 percent), and the older the spirit, the smoother and richer it will be. Beyond that, it's mostly personal preference.

Tasting festival

The Spirits of Mexico event, coming to San Diego Sept. 17-21, is one easy way to sample a wide variety of tequila brands, as well as a few mezcal and other spirits made in Mexico. Now celebrating its 10th year, the festival offers seminars led by professionals who cover the history and culture of each spirit, teach proper tasting techniques and impart wisdom about current trends. And of course, there are tastings. Lots of tastings.

The tasting competition (by invitation only) that precedes the festival determines the awards and trophies are announced during a dinner and live auction at Barra Barra Saloon in Old Town San Diego Friday night. Top winners in 2012 were Cava de Oro, best of show, and Jose Cuervo Platino/Pura Vida Silver (tie), Muerto Reposado, El Jimador Añejo and Scorpion Añejo Tobala varietal (mezcal), best in their respective categories.

The Spirits of Mexico is a touring event, starting in New York in May, moving to Chicago in June, and winding up in San Diego. The final San Diego leg, which draws about 2,500 aficionados, claims to be the oldest, largest and most comprehensive such event in North America. A panoply of master distillers, blenders, mixologists, distributors and retailers present both world-renowned and emerging brands, and visitors will be able to tap the knowledge of prominent historians and authors. This year's festival promises more "meet, greet and taste" opportunities than ever, and is adding events that spotlight the spirit, as well as the spirits, of Mexico's history and culture.

Tequila 101

The kickoff event is the brand-new "Contemporary Cocktails/Ancient Cuisine" Cocktail Challenge at the Blind Burro in Downtown San Diego. Chefs will re-create dishes that the ancient Aztecs ate, as well as each dish's contemporary version, offering insight into how the Spanish influenced Mexico's ancient cuisine. At the same time, guests will taste mixologists' best efforts to create the festival's Cocktail of the Year.



A free "Art of Tequila" exhibition opens Wednesday, detailing the artistic passion lavished upon the hand-crafted bottles that distinguish Mexico's spirits from any other in the world. The exhibition focuses on the distinctly Mexican cultural themes that inspire the innovative, often whimsical and sometimes outlandish designs.

Thursday brings the traditional Tequila Trail in Old Town San Diego, presenting signature dishes from local restaurants, along with selections of tequila, mezcal and other Mexican spirits.

The main tasting event on Saturday, at the Information Center Plaza in Old Town San Diego, puts hundreds of styles of agave and other spirits produced in Mexico at visitors' disposal, with food created especially for the event.

Extra credit

Though The Spirits of Mexico will have enough tequila to keep any sane person fully occupied, the festival also offers a rare opportunity to sample Mexican wine, as well as some of the other spirits produced in Mexico that are rarely found in the United States, including:

Bacanora — Distilled for 400 years from agaves that grow in Sonora's Sierra Madres, bacanora was inexplicably outlawed at the onset of the Mexican revolution in 1915. That law was only repealed in 1992, and the state established standards and regulations for its production. The agaves are slowly roasted in underground pits, imparting mineral nuances to the liquor.

Mezcal — Though a generic name for all spirits distilled from the agave, it's more often associated with the maguey agave spirit produced primarily in Oaxaca and to a lesser extent in the states of San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Jalisco, Durango, Morelos, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas. It is usually produced in smaller batches, and the agave heart, or piña, is cooked in an underground pit lined with volcanic rock. The smoky flavor that results does not lend itself to mixing, so it is usually drunk in straight shots.

Raicilla — A fermented pre-Hispanic drink that has been prepared by traditional methods for 500 years, raicilla is based on wild agave plants, though agave is now cultivated for the purpose in the state of Jalisco. Long regarded as "moonshine," it is now regulated and produced legally in Jalisco.

Sotol — Produced in northern Mexico from the Desert Spoon cactus (sotol in Spanish), sotol is distilled in much the same way mezcal is. Though common in Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila, commercial versions are extremely rare.

The Spirits of Mexico, Sept. 17-21, downtown and Old Town San Diego. Events $35-$95; combo tickets $88-$265. www.thespiritsofmexico.com, (619) 709-0555.