Brands Report 2021: Mezcal

Mezcal’s journey from exotic curiosity to established category in the world’s best bars is nearing completion. Ninety-seven per cent of our polled bars said they stocked at least one mezcal. Three quarters had two brands and two thirds said they stocked three lines or more.

Since we’ve been asking bars about their most-used mezcal, the answer has been Del Maguey. The Ron Cooper-founded brand always had the bartender’s ear and under the mighty wing of Pernod Ricard its voice has become louder. Vida is the brand’s mixing expression, while an abundance of single village mezcals highlight the interaction of terroir and agave type. Thirty-eight per cent said Del Maguey was their number one, while 60% put it in their top three mezcal brands. It also tops our trending list.

It’s a drop down to number two, which this year is Alipus, having gained a place. This mezcal also has a single village approach, working with nine producers from Oaxaca for its range. In 8% of bars it was the house and a top-three in 19%. It was a similar performance from Montelobos – whose range includes single varieties, a blend and the famed turkey breast distilled Pechuga – but with 7% naming it their house. Casamigos, brought to us by the unlikely partnership of Diageo and George Clooney, makes its debut, while Illegal Mezcal completes a top five of global mezcal brands.

                                                                                                  

Methodology

The results of this report are the culmination of a questionnaire of 106 bars around the world, each cherry-picked to take part based on their performance in global bar awards. We aim to find out not only which brands sell best but also what’s trending. These two data sets give us an insight into the brands that are doing the most volume and the brands that are hot right now.

To read more on the methodology of the Brands Report click here.