MEZCAL VS. TEQUILA, WHAT'S THE DEAL?
All tequilas are mezcal, but not all mezcals are tequila. As a producer of mezcal made using only the blue agave, the town of Tequila had acquired fame by the early nineteenth century. Based on this, the Mexican government created an appellation of sorts around the area of Guadalajara and Jalisco that includes Tequila and Tepatitlan. In addition to this boundary, tequila must be made from the blue agave (the espadine we use is the genetic mother of the blue agave) and must be oven cooked (as opposed to roasted with smoke as we do with Sombra). Tequila has seen tremendous growth and success in the ultra-premium spirit segment of late while there’s been very little inspired mezcal. Historically, most mezcal has been cheap, of poor quality, and often had a worm in the bottle. The worm, of course, was a marketing gimmick to mask the chemical taste of poorly-produced mezcal. In stark contrast to this sad production, is Sombra, a single-site, organically farmed, high altitude agave that is expertly distilled in the traditional method. Sombra is a testament that world class agave spirits do exist outside of Tequila.