All right, so we're saying this is Mexico more than tequila kind of thing, right? Yes. More than just tequila. I don't, we don't even have a tequila. Could you use the old Michigander theme of, yes, Mexico, it's more than tequila. That's the intro. I don't know that. You are listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. I'm Lexi, I'm on social media, sometime. I'm Roger, I work in beer. Jim, communications. I'm Chris, I do wine. Today, we are talking about not tequila, but other things from Mexico. But not Mexican wine. Except Mexican wine. Distilled spirits. Distilled spirits from Mexico. Yes. Yes. I'm ready to geek out and learn more about tequilas. I feel the hipster crowd has really embraced Mezcal, and now you always need something that's even more esoteric. It's like, oh, you drink Mezcal? That's so 2018. I've been wondering about this portion of the tequila Mezcal aisle for a while, because some of our stores, especially like Lincoln Park, have a pretty large section of non-Mezcal or non-tequila, Mexican distilled spirits, like so tall. So I'm excited to check some of these out. Yeah. There's actually one that I had never heard of until doing research for this. So I'm really excited about that. We've got some La Cour adjacent type things. This bottle is pretty adorable with the corn cob. Yeah. Lots of cool stuff today. Yeah, it's a great bottle. You can smoke your corn cob pipe while you drink that, right? There you go, the old Missouri Mircham. That's right. Whatever you think that tastes like, it tastes exactly like that. This is the best part. Missouri Mircham. I love that. I've never heard that one before. Okay. So a little background, a little important background. There's over 200 different types of agave plants, which I also didn't know until this podcast. So many agaves. Well, we always focus on the blue weber. That's like the main focus of the spirits industry. But there will be none of that today. Nope. Nope. So today we're going to first start with sotol. Sotol is only made in Durango, Chihuahua, and I am not fluent yet in Spanish. Coajila, C-O-A-H-U-I-L-A. Coajila. But this is not agave at all, is it? Not even one of these 200 rare species. Yes. This is made from the desert spoon, which is totally different from everything else. Is there a desert runcible spoon? Oh, what? Is there a desert grapefruit spoon? Is there a desert spork? A spork. A desert spork would be ideal. I would love to try something made with a desert spork. They are pretty spiky. They are pretty spiky. True enough. Yeah. I believe it's the long, the things that grow really, really tall. Desert spork. Did you know that agave is part of the asparagus family? Speaking of tall and thin. Interesting. Really? I thought it was a lily, isn't it? Yes. Also... It's not a cactus. That's a barbat. It is not a cactus. Don't call it a cactus. It's so tall a cactus. No. No. Succulent. It's a succulent. It looks a lot like agave to be fair. It's spiky. It's got a big tall thing. A big tall thing. Growing up. Asparagus. Asparagusia. Did you just make that up or is that the actual... So the agave, does the agave grow that big tall thing or not? It does. Okay. So what you're trying to avoid is that actually happening. It takes years and years to build up sugar until they produce that and flower. But you don't want them to flower because you want to use that sugar for distillation. Yeah. So you want to... I mean, it does grow up, but you want to harvest the piñas before it actually flowers. Yes. Okay. Let's get back on track. Yes. No, please. So this first one is coyote, coyote, if you're in the Midwest. If you've heard about Sotol at all, one of the things you might have heard is that it was illegal until pretty recently. So until 1994. So I think that was part of the, we never saw them because it wasn't regulated and controlled. Yeah. There are a few spirits like this in Mexico. What's the Northern Sonoran mezcal? Bacchanara. Bacchanara. That was also just recently. We're trying that also today. Oh, it's third in line. Check that. Bacchanara. I don't know why I said that. Yeah, that was Italian. That was Italian. It sounds Italian. Hey, you want a Bacchanara? This is interesting. There's a sweetness there, but it's also extremely earthy. Very earthy, very herbal, almost minty to my palate. It smells awesome. It's reminiscent of an agave, like a blanco. Indeed. I think it has just a bare whiff of smokiness, like you might expect in the mezcal. But it's very subtle. Yeah. Yeah, there is a little bit of that smokiness, but it's- There's a little sweetness there too. Yeah. That's what Jim said. Thanks for joining the show, Raj. So grossed in my- Oh, yeah. Lexi, do you know what kind of stills they're using here? In this one, it's a steel still. Steel still pot. Steel still. That's interesting. Is it a pot still? Column still? Steel still. Probably a pot. Don't start asking too many questions here. Here we go. I know. We're not going to get through them all. Steel still, that's all we got today. Steel still. Steel still. Sotol coyote. What's the ABV on this? 43 percent. Man, I think this is really nice and easy sipping. I would drink this neat when we're on the rocks. Me too. Yeah. It has a nice- between that sweetness and the citrus component, it already has a cocktail-esque. Yeah, and it's super mellow. I mean, it's very, very refined, I think. I'd want some fresh grapefruit juice in here. Yeah, sounds delicious. That could be good. Paloma. What do you do with the sotol? Do you sip it? Do you- Sotoloma? Sotoloma. The spoon dove? I think based on the price point, a lot of people are just drinking these on the rocks. Enjoying them as they are. But you could definitely add these two cocktails. This one is $54.99, so not too crazy, really. But again, it's such a complex flavor in my eyes that it's got that sweetness that would be kind of tough to play with in a cocktail. Don't put it in your eyes. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing you could do is don't be afraid of those big, giant, grapefruit looking things by the name of a pomelo. Oh, man. Here's favorite citrus. Underappreciated citrus, the mother citrus. So people don't like these because they have a ton of pith. But if you don't like the bitterness of a grapefruit, and you're dumping sugar all over them to be able to drink the juice or eat the fruit, you should be eating pomelo. So try that out. And it's besides good eating, a good juice to mix cocktails with. One of the negative reviews of this podcast is too much pith. We're too pithy. That was rather pithy. Yeah, what do you think? That's a good one. Very pleased with the coyote. Yeah. I think something too so talls have that I really like is that weird mouthfeel. It kind of almost like coats your tongue a little bit, and a little differently than Mezcal's would. So is it called so tall because the plants are so tall? Dead jokes. Dead jokes galore today. Yeah. All right. This one. I haven't tried this one. This next one is Pomea. Another so tall. It's a Blanco. Something cool about this place is they do two different batches of this stuff. So they do it either in the summer or in the winter. So this one is labeled as the winter. On the side, you'll see a little sticker. It says Envier, no. And either season kind of changes a little bit of that flavor. So you can have the exact same thing, just like anything else, totally different. That's interesting. Yeah, we don't see that too often in the Spirits world. Also with that, since they are doing these at different times, they change the process up a little bit. So in the winter, they do these slow and low, and then it gives it a little bit more of a rich flavor, whereas in the summer, they do it hot and fast, and then it gives it a little bit more of a complex, bold, minerality to it. This one smells pretty funky. It smells cheesy. Cheesy and kind of like hay or barnyard. Barnyard. Yeah, barnyard, bordering on zoo. Yeah, but not bad. I don't know, not bad. It smells outdoorsy. It smells like nature. It smells like nature. They list one of the notes as cucumber, not totally sure. Yeah, I can see that. When you peel a cucumber, that aroma of the peel. Yeah, I think there's vegetal notes and animal notes. Mineral. Mineral notes? Animal notes. Yeah, there's something that the flavor is like. Cedar citrus. It's like a cleaning supplies. Cedar, yeah, I can see. Cedar, definitely. Definitely citrusy. The non-deet bug spray that uses the cedar oil and the... This is natural bug spray. Spurstips. Yeah. Yeah, it's also interesting. This is interesting. It's not for me. I think the olfactory baggage of the all-natural cleaners and bug sprays, but cedar, I think, really does hammer at home. So maybe some of you cigar fans, this would be a good one to sip on with a cigar. Yeah, that's a really good point. Do we say what was this was called? Palmia. Palmia. On the, yep, on the bottom there. Palmia is still tall. And this one is? $69.99. It's also made in the mountainous area. This one, I think, could benefit with a little ice, a cube or two. It's a little spicy. I'd be curious to try the summer version, though. And what are we saying distinguishes these two? Summer and winter? Do we know? This brand specifically makes either summer or winter. Beastie Boys. Slow and low. That is the tempo. Winter is slow and low, and summer is hot and fast, and it's more complex. All right, what's next? We're going to try these two side by side, hence the double glasses. Oh, boy, this is an awkward. These bottles look cool, but it's kind of hard to hold onto. It looks like one of those like novelty 7-Up bottles. It's like flattened or not, like a novelty bottle that's been like flattened. It's like huge, thin, wide. I feel like this bottle is a bartender's nightmare. I mean, this is just begging to slide right out of your hand and crash to a million pieces. Okay, so this one is called Quechua Sotol, which translates to precious feather. They use a lot of more like ancient techniques and that being volcanic rock pits. And when they do this, Jim loves the volcanic rock pit. That's one of the most interesting things about a lot of the spirits in Mexico is, you know, the different cooking methods is really interesting. But volcanic rock, volcanic rock. So this one is more of the like Aztec style. So it was an old style that they've kind of been doing for a long time and kind of in a way brought back depending on how you look at it. So try them side by side. There's two different ones. There's the Texanum, which is I think that purple bottle. It is. And then there's the Williery, which is also the same as the other one that we talked about. So these are different kinds of species of spoon. The Williery was the first one we sent around. Yeah. Which one is the little spoon? Which one is the big spoon? I don't know. We'll have to lay them down to find out. Boy, these smell different. They're really from the other things we've been drinking. They're super floral, really perfumed. Both the last one and this to some degree, but especially the one before, it reminded me of Singani. Remember when we tried that? Singani, the- The Steven Soderbergh spirit? Yeah. From Muscat. Notoriously floral. Which one did you guys try first? I guess I should have tried a little. Wheeleri or Wheeleri. Wheeleri first. Wheeleri. Wheeleri. So this one's kind of cool in the two differences. These pina is way between 65 and 75 pounds on average, and they mature for 15 years. So it takes a long time to get these, which you know, I think it's kind of cool. Can't register sound. Yeah. Yeah. It's cool, but that's going to cost you. Yeah. I mean, so that's one of the reasons why you factor in that, what tequila is seven years. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. So this is 15. It's just like with bourbon sitting in a barrel, it's just going to end up costing more depending on the number of years. You know, that's why these things tend to cost a little bit more. But so with that being costing a little bit more, I wouldn't say this isn't necessarily an everyday purchase for everyone, but it's still at $59.99. Oh, it's not totally crazy. Wow, I was expecting a lot more. I know with some of the Mezcal's to Jim's point about how you're playing this waiting game, doubly frustrating is that some of it would be wild harvested as opposed to cultivated. You happen to know when they say 15 years, are they growing this on a farm for 15 years or they're looking for them? I'm not for sure about these two. I mean, I would think with any kind of level of production, if you're not cultivating them, that's insane, how many can exist just in the wild. But something to think about, when you see the pictures of the Weber Blue Agave Farms, it's pretty wild, just like these row after row after row of these peonies growing. But also part of the problem, it's a monoculture, takes a long time to mature. I mean, it's difficult, which is why broader Mezcal category is interesting because there are a lot of wild agave that are available and you can farm them too. I think something else that's crazy to think about is, so many of these Mezcal companies and agave type of companies are so focused on sustainability that we run into that same issue sometimes as a chartreuse where this is it, this is all we're making this year, sorry. Or they pump the brakes on, we want to get it out there, we want to make money, but we also want to make sure that we're staying true to tradition and not wiping out the land. And it's something that seems to be at the forefront of a lot of these companies, which is really, really cool. And you can harvest immature peonies, you just won't have the sugar levels that you really need, and it doesn't lead to a good product. You really have to wait. Patience. What do you guys think? I like them. They're very different. Soft enough for sipping, for sure. I think they're too delicate, maybe, to mix with. I think you'd lose, or maybe, you know, if you wanted something really simple, like put it on the rocks and add some sort of citrusy garnish. With the willy, I think I would do it on a big cube and just do like a lemon peel, not necessarily a full lemon wedge in there. I got almost notes of lavender out of this, the first one. Yeah, it's really flowery, like clean laundry. Yeah. The second one's a little wilder in my opinion, in the nose. The Texanum? Yeah. This one, the peonies weigh 110 to 130 pounds, which is significantly higher, almost double, not quite, than the other ones. And they both still take that 15 years, but it's crazy to see the different sizes of the two of them, just over that same amount of 15 years. You know what might be interesting is to use something that's got a bit of fruitiness to it, but also some earthy floral. Like the first one in particular is reminding me a little bit of hibiscus or maybe like prickly pear. So playing around with either of those, maybe making like a syrup out of either of those or both, and putting just a teeny bit of that with this, that could be cool. Yeah. I like it. They're saying that this one has notes of spearmint. Are you picking any of them? Oh, yeah. For sure. I think I prefer the Wheeler one. It's a little more delicate, a little more subtle. More floral-esque earth to me. It's also crazy. I'm not getting any of that big cheese dairy, you know? But it's got some interesting spice on the finish, too, I think. I can't stand that cheese, cheesy flavor and these weird agave things, so I'm very pleased so far that we haven't experienced that because I can't handle it. I think there's just the one that we did. Again, those are only $59.99, so give it a shot. Take your mouth out on an adventure. Take your mouth on an adventure, if you will. All right. Take your taste buds on a ride. Okay, so what do we got here? This one, Agua Miel. Which means honey water. Look at that. Does it speak Spanish? Spanish. It's got a road runner on it. Oh, man, nice. A lovely little Bacchanora. If you are not familiar, these are... We are not. Only... Krista, I mean, I guess I knew where Bacchanora was from, but I don't know what it is. These are only produced in the state of Sonora and only Pacifica agaves are used. So if there's flavor differences, it would be in elevation or, I mean, I guess there's a few more things, but definitely in the cooking methods and the way that these agaves are cooked down and shredded down even makes a difference in their flavor. This is extremely floral, I think. Yeah, this is like fruity, fruity floral soaps. Yeah. This one is a steel and copper steel as well. The aroma is definitely very different, I think, but I think the flavor is very different than anything we've tried today. I mean, it's just a very easy to drink, I think. It's not like funky, it's not like hay. Yeah, it's really approachable. It's super soft. I was going to say even the texture is soft. Not just the flavor profile, but the way it lays on the palate. Which may be a nod to its name. Maybe that's why it was named that. It's, you know, soft and I think it would be really nice with just a little soda water in summer, just called an egg. Yeah, I like that idea. I mean, it has a lemony-ness to it that's refreshing. How about a gold rush with this? I was just going to say, I almost want more honey. Like, I don't pick up on it. It's floral in the way that's a clover, floral honey can be, but it's not very honeyed, but it might be interesting with some honey. Honey, simple syrup and lemon. Very easy way to incorporate honey in cocktails, is just mix honey with a little bit of warm water until it's pourable. Do a dry shake if you're mixing it or stirring it with a spirit. If you put it right on the ice, it might just freeze to the ice, but delightful. Yeah. This is interesting. How much does this one cost? $44.99. Not bad. Not bad. Yeah. I think your idea of a spritz is a good way to go with this one. Yeah. I feel like it may lose its softness if you add too much to it. Yeah. So another subcategory of Mezcal, right, like tequila, it's a specific agave liquor from a specific site, but not tequila. So Sotol is just its own thing. Baccanara is a, as you said, a subcategory. Yeah. I mean, tequila is Mezcal too, right? Right. Why does it sound Italian? Is that just because you, the way you guys are saying it? It's just these guys. Pretty good. This next one will take you on a little bit of a ride. If I can find my notes here. Do we get to drink the corn cob? Oh, we're going to save that for last. Okay. Otherwise, your palate is going to be trashed. The Missouri mare shawm. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Or in this case, is it the Mexican mare shawm? Yeah, I think so. So this next one is called Siglo Cero. Look at that Spanish. So this is posh. Spice. How posh. Spelled P-O-X, but not pronounced that way. That's a whole other different type of spirit. So part of me, the more I keep learning about these, I just feel like they're just making stuff up every day. Apoxepamil. This is a whole new one. So this is actually a pre-Hispanic beverage that the Mayans used to drink. So we took a trip to the little Aztec times, now we're in the Mayan times. Mesoamerican. Oh, yeah. This is cool. I like this. This was a ceremonial drink for them, right? Sure. It's so matter of fact, they're like, hey, we're a cult record. They're going to be sacrificing, so they would drink this. Sorry. I'm not sure if you spend more of your free time reading about spirits, wine, beer, alcohol. I drink them and gain knowledge through osmosis. This will only cost you $34.99. Nice. Holy cow. Real approachable. Oh, you know, you got the corn. That's down at the local palenque. This is really good. Yeah. It's super interesting. It's very light and easy drinking, but it definitely has some interesting fruit character. Wow. Yeah. It's been referred to or called like a Mexican moonshine. Okay. I can also smell that sugarcane funkiness, like agricultural rum almost. There's a little bit of that. Only a little, though. I think this is, given what I was expecting, this is very refined. Sugarcane, wheat and corn. Yeah. These are all types and colors of corn, so there isn't like a specific kind that they use necessarily, which if you've ever had Huelacoche, sometimes that gets a little bit in here. Really? Where you get that weird funky weird fungal flavor. Yeah. Corn smut. Yeah. Is what they call it. I was just waiting all day to drop towards smut. Well, how would I be waiting? I didn't know. That's how you are, man. We know you. Corn smut. Huelacoche, it's delicious. I can't define corn smut, but I know what it is when I see it. That's right. This is some sweet smut. I can totally see that this is a mixture of different grains because it delivers all that. There's an interesting fruit, there's the sweetness. This is really interesting. They've been reticent in the whiskey world for sure to embrace unage spirits. There's really not that many people geeking out about white dogs or anything. Well, usually they're bottled at this crazy strength where it's rough. So this, I feel like you're getting a mellower, more drinkable reiteration of something like that. Very interesting. Does this brand in particular proclaim that there is sometimes sweet le coche? Yeah, it says black corn, typically. Dang. Yeah. That's unusual. I would not expect that. I was wondering actually when you said corn, I was like, I wonder if any of that fungal stuff gets in there, if that's something that anyone ever uses for spirits. Why would you think that? Given that bourbon is made with corn and nobody ever said- Because it's Mexico. I got a corn smut bourbon. Because it's Mexico and that's something that's like actually, corn smut is actually eaten there. That's true. In tacos and stuff. Yeah. So it's an ingredient. Such a bigger part of the food. Has anyone had it? It's delicious. Yeah, it's amazing. We wouldn't eat it. I mean, people wouldn't eat it here. If we discovered it in the US and didn't know what it was, we would burn the field probably. Oh, yeah. But now that it's come over from Mexico and other countries that eat it, people are like, oh, this is interesting. Well, it looks horrifying. Yeah. I mean, you just put in a quesadilla. Yeah, it does not look good. No. It looks crazy looking. Real bad. Yeah. But it's good. I mean, you have your botrytis affected wines, of course. Yeah. And that looks pretty gross too. Yeah. Also, I mean, cheese. Cheese. Yeah. It's so funny. Fungus is, you know, weird about it, but it's weird. Yeast. Yeast. Let's just talk about yeast because yeast is all looks weird. So yeah, but it makes delicious stuff. Have you tried it, Roger? No. You've known me for a long time. Does this seem like something that I would want to? So what does it taste like? It's quite earthy. Yeah. Yeah. There's a space, a place in Chicago. It's actually a fully vegetarian, like Mexican restaurant. And they do this in a couple of different things. They have like a huitlacoche taco and a quesadilla and all sorts of stuff. But it's delicious. I mean, I probably- Huge tortillas. Yeah. Tried it in Chicago 30 years ago. Oh, okay. So it's been around. Interesting. Give it a shot. Yeah. If you like mushrooms, you'll probably like it. Yeah. I mean, just think of it as a mushroom that's really gross and black. I don't think Roger's going to try it. So something that is done with this one here is you take a bite of a coffee bean first, and then you take a sip of the Posh. So we're going to give that a try. This is being made in the mountains. There's coffee grown. I would assume that there's coffee grown nearby. Again, it's more of like a celebratory thing almost. So give it a shot. Pour yourself some. This is like the original Red Bull and vodka. Yeah. Kind of for Loco before they took the caffeine out. Right. Crunching it up over there. Rocks over there? The quality of this coffee is interesting. Yeah. It's worth trying. It's interesting. I think it makes the coffee almost like more... I feel like it extracts bitterness from the coffee. You ever make hot chocolate from scratch, and you just take a big scoop of the... That's exactly how that just hit my nose. It's a... Maybe a chocolate-covered coffee bean would be nice to eat before it. What you're saying is you can make an espresso martini with this. You could probably make an espresso martini. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah. Duh. Does anybody else feel like it enhances bitterness? Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. It definitely doesn't taste as sweet as the... Like, the sugar cane has gone. I also ended up sucking a lot of the grounds into the back of my mouth, and then it was just kind of hanging back there, and I couldn't get it out, and then it was really weird. Not used to eating coffee beans. Just straight up. One more, this will be a little bit of a change up. This is Prickly Pear Distillate. I'm a Prickly Pear. That's cool. This seems like something Roger's gonna love. So is that just like a brandy then? Right, I mean, yes. Oh, that would count as essentially a brandy. An O-D-V. Although, is this, I mean, is this traditional at all? What's the deal with this? I don't know this. I can't imagine it's been, I can't imagine that if it's just like in other parts of the world, if you've got a source of sugar, you can distill it. It's probably traditional. There's also cane sugar in it. This smells pretty interesting. I don't know if I'm on board. No, it's got a nice fruity aftertaste. You can buy prickly pears, but just don't grab them. Yeah. Or eat those spikes. No. It's got like a water-like mouthfeel. I don't know. I'm not sure if that's the right way to say it. Like a thin mouthfeel? Yeah, it's pretty thin. Yeah, like a really thin. But you were saying water, I thought you were going to say watermelon, because that's what I'm getting is watermelon. Yeah. I mean, the pallet is super fruity. I agree with you on the texture is being pretty thin. But yeah, it's like there's a watermelon kind of thing going on. I absolutely agree. Like the Agua Miel was really like round and soft. This is very, very, yes. I mean, watery is probably the word I would use. However, the flavor impact is pretty interesting. It is very, very fruity up front. It's like the watermelon part between the red flesh and the rind, like the whiter, crunchier part that's almost cucumber-like. Yeah. Very different. Of course, you get nopales from the same plant. What do you think? I like it. I think it's really interesting. Not for me. It's interesting. What do you do with it? Can it be a gin substitute? I think that's what threw me off about it too is, okay, I get it. Cool. But how do I- What do you do with it? What do I? Do you add it and use it like a split-based cocktail or you add it with something else? Do you? I think this for sure tonic. I've always been a big proponent of people trying tequila with tonic. Sure. TNT. TNT before Tancoray came around. But this I think would be great with fever tree. Which one though? Mediterranean? Like Mediterranean. Yeah. That's what I was thinking too. Mediterranean. What about with some lovage, Chris, and a Pimms Cup? Yeah, sure. I think this would fit right into a Pimms Cup. Pimms is gin-based and often a bit of gin is added to a Pimms Cup. If you substitute this in, I think it would slide right in. Slide right in. Lovage. You lovage that recommendation? I do. I don't know if I've even ever heard that word before. It's an herb. Often in the US we use mint, but in Britain, lovage is the go-to for the Pimms. Lovage has its moment during Wimbledon. Everyone's drinking Pimms Cups and they stuff in a bunch of lovage leaves and strawberries. So, this last one is a liqueur. Oh, it is corny. This is mixta, corn liqueur or licor de elote. It smells like corn, I mean, it smells like corn pudding. Yeah. Like, not the way that the whiskey hotline describes corn pudding, but just actual corn pudding. Say that again, what is it? Mixta. Mixta, licor de elote, elote, the corn. Which the bottle is shaped, as Roger said. It smells like freshly made corn tortillas. Well, that would make sense because I do believe- It is made of corn. Not just corn, but the name mixta must indicate that it's nixtamalized corn, which is the corn that's ground and treated with lime to change the pH and to make tortillas. I mean, it tastes like a delicious tortilla. It's a little sweet. It tastes like you put butter and cinnamon sugar on a tortilla, on a freshly made corn tortilla. Oh, it's quite sweet. Sugar and honey. Holy cow. It's really sweet. I just tasted it for the first time. It's pretty sweet. It is pretty sweet. But the smell is just so fun. Yeah. Yeah. It smells like a fresh tortilla. It just smells, yeah. So this same company that makes this also makes a Mexican whiskey. I think we've had that on the podcast before. I'm sure we've, yeah, I've tried that one. Can you confirm that it's nixtamalized? Do you know that? Nixtamalized. Does it say that? I'm putting my glasses on to read the bottle. I mean, the sweetness is so over the top on this though. What are you doing with this? Not yet. There it says. Like, it's like drinking flan, corny flan. You try to drink flan, it's actually pretty easy if you put a straw in there. That's true. You can get it at. That's true. Flan shots? Yeah, flan shots. How about this poured on fried ice cream? Yeah. That cinnamon? Yeah. How about this in... It would be crazy to put a little bit in like Mexican hot chocolate? No. Is that just too much sweetness? No. I don't think so. I think depending on... Well, if you made your own, yeah, and you were adding any sugar. You need to hold back with some sugar, for sure, because this is sweet, really sweet. This would be interesting with a caramelized grilled pineapple, maybe like a milkshake, a dessert drink, this ice cream, pineapple, banana. It could be pretty cool. I like the sound of this. We've got one for a holy pozole mezcal cocktail. What's in it? Well, corn liqueur, mezcal, peppers, lime juice, topped with Mexican crema. Wow, Mexican crema. What? That's what it says. That's crazy. Ancho. Ancho chili. Ancho chili. I mean. Cool. Give it a shot. Pozole. But since they make that the whiskey, you could probably make a really nice old-fashioned, and use this as the sweetener for it instead of a, it would be fun. Yeah. It gets credit for being super different. It's very unique. It certainly is. I think it's definitely a cocktail ingredient. Yeah. A bit much on its own. Even chilled, I think it's too sweet. Yeah, I think if you're going to drink it without anything, you should drink it on the rocks because it is, or chill it, but on the rocks, it's very. Sweet. Ironically, nixtamalized corn is not particularly sweet. Right. Which is interesting because sweet corn is sweet. Right. This could have potential for lots of unique cocktails. I think this will work really well with fruit, like maybe some funkier, go down the rabbit hole of like tamarins, something with a little tartness or like passion fruit without any sweetener in it. It is super sour, so. I love that idea, passion fruit, even just citrus. I mean. Right. This is an interesting lineup. Thanks, Lexi. That's all I got. I'd shoot it with a bowl of pozole. Okay. Or cornflakes. Or cornflakes. On my bowl of cornflakes. Sure. Forget the milk. Gross. That's interesting stuff. An interesting lineup of alternatives in Mexico. If you're looking for something else besides tequila and mezcal, there's a lot of options out there. Yeah. I don't think I have ever tasted one of these before. No, I haven't. And there were some really interesting things here. Yeah. I think with the exception of the Nixta, the Corn LeCour, I don't think that I've even spotted these on a shelf and been like, oh yeah. You might just wander down the Agave Island. They might just all blend in with everything else, but these are pretty unique, different ingredients, different flavor profiles, and pretty delicious and overall very much refined and not rustic, generally speaking, which I think about ancestral I definitely thought that the Posh was going to be very rustic. The Posh was quite posh. It was quite posh. It was not rustic at all. It was mountains, corn, sugar cane. I assume it's going to be very rustic, but it's very refined and very interesting. The Bacchanora was really refined, too. I think it's really cool how light and floral some of these were. Because you just don't think that. Yeah, that kind of tied a lot of them together, is the kind of floral aspect in the nose. And they weren't particularly agave forward in the way that you would taste in a Mazcal or a Tequila. True enough. They're really their own thing. Some of them have agave. There were. Right. Yeah, but the ones that did. They get lumped in, I feel. No one knows anything about them. They're like, oh, they're kind of like. Well, they are kind of like. I mean, broadly speaking, and you're right, there were minty flavors. There were some herbaceous flavors, some vegetal flavors, but not in the way that a lot of Tequila or Mazcal presents. Right. Yeah, subtle. Yeah, refined. Surprising. That's all I got. Thanks for listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle. We'll be back in your feed real soon. I'm Lexi. I'm Roger. I'm Chris. I'm Jim. I'm a prickly pear.