Salón, which was founded by Megs Miller in 2022, has been without a permanent home since the closure and sale of Casa Prunes at the end of last year, where the tasting room had occupied the top floor.

Ahead of the reopening, Drinks International caught up with Miller to find out about the future of Salón de Agave and how the new venue opens the doors to more capacity to realise her vision.

“I was walking home one night, actually pretty distraught about not getting another venue that we thought was going to be the place, and I saw a for rent sign,” says Miller.

“I took a photo, messaged the guy, and he came back with a price that was way out of budget for us. But he said just put your offer in, what you can afford and a few hours later, he came back and said the owner had accepted. He said that the owner was just getting loads of requests from people who wanted to turn it into an Airbnb, and they wanted to do something more interesting. We invited them for a Salón tasting, and that was that. We had an agreement.”

The new space, a large neoclassical house with a terrace, can afford Miller and her team, not just room to spread out, but spaces to diversify the Salón offering.

“Firstly, we’re going to have a bigger tasting room that we’re going to be able to divide so we can host private groups, or bigger groups more easily.

“In some time, we’ll have a tiendita, a store to sell bottles, which will grow and evolve with us.

“And eventually, we’ll have a terrace out back where you can sit and drink mezcal by the glass, try different things and maybe we’ll sell one beer but no cocktails, no ice, closed by 10pm, the focus is still all on the agave and dasylirion.”

The tiendita in particular feels like a natural progression for Salon de Agave. In its previous form, visitors were introduced to a diverse array of some of Mexico’s most interesting and rare mezcals before leaving with, most likely, a new favourite mezcal that they’d probably never taste again. The storefront changes that, allowing visitors to take home a part of the experience while also giving back to the producers whom Miller and her team have spent the last few years developing close-knit ties.

“Getting this space means that we can now buy more from these producers, showcase so much more,” says Miller. “Coming from the little room where we started it, it’s really fucking cool.

“Sitting on stock is not going to be the easy part; we won't be able to have all the same bottles all the time, and consistency is going to be a learning curve, but we’ll always make sure we have a decent amount of stock available on hand.”

And it’s not just the surroundings that are growing. This month, Aranza Cabeza de Vaca joined the team, which already features tasting hosts, Mateo Leal and Sofía Barrera, digital marketer Tato Montano and Miller’s business partner and co-owner of Salón, Geraldine Peña.

While the business is expanding, at its core, Mexico City’s most celebrated spirits tasting room’s sole focus is education.

“When I started Salón, I was looking to spread the kind of love and really my nerdiness about how broad the agave and dasylirion category was,” explains Miller. “And my knowledge now, from three and a half years ago, is like, night and day, it's a category that I'll never be able to stop learning about.

“Every single trip I go on, even if I've been to the same distillery or the same palenque or vinata before, I learn something new. We’ve barely scratched the surface in knowing everything about how these plants work and what they can do, and for us in Salón, we’re lucky to study it and work with it every single day.”

Salón de Agave reopens for tastings at its new site on Calle Chiapas, Roma, CDMX on 5 May.