The second Mezcalito in this survey lets us revisit the thesis – and the extraordinary global rise of agave spirits
Mezcalito Brompton is a tequila and mezcal cocktail bar in South Kensington with a hundred and eighteen reviews and a 4.4 – and it is the second Mezcalito in this Chelsea survey, which makes it, by the logic this whole enterprise has run on, another matched pair.
The matched pair, one more time
We wrote about Mezcalito Chelsea earlier in this survey – the branch with over eleven hundred reviews and a 4.2. Here is its sibling, Mezcalito Brompton, with a hundred and eighteen reviews and a 4.4. Same concept, same drinks, same agave-focused identity – two branches, a couple of tenths of a star apart.
By now the reader knows the thesis, because it has been the spine of this entire survey, from the two All Bar Ones to the two Big Easys: the difference in rating between two branches of the same operation is almost never about the product, which is essentially identical. It is about the location, the crowd, the passing trade, and – crucially – the sample size. The Brompton branch, with far fewer reviews, sits a little higher; whether that gap would survive another thousand reviews is precisely the question, and the honest answer is that it probably would not. Small samples wander; large ones settle. The star rating measures the postcode and the sample, not the mezcal.
The agave boom
What the two Mezcalitos really testify to, together, is one of the great drinks stories of the past two decades: the extraordinary global rise of agave spirits. Not so long ago, tequila’s reputation in Britain was dire – it meant cheap, harsh shots, salt and lime, the drink of regretted student nights, gulped down as fast as possible to get past the taste.
That has been transformed. Tequila and mezcal have undergone one of the most complete image rehabilitations of any category of drink. Fine, aged, sipping tequilas now command serious prices and serious respect. Mezcal, with its smoky complexity and artisanal, small-batch production, has become the darling of the cocktail world and the connoisseur. Agave spirits are now discussed with the reverence once reserved for single malt whisky or fine cognac.
The two Mezcalitos in this survey are products of exactly this boom – dedicated agave bars, offering serious ranges of tequila and mezcal to a public that has learned, in the space of a generation, to take these spirits seriously and sip them slowly rather than shoot them in penance.
The price of success
There is a shadow to the boom, worth noting. The global surge in demand for agave spirits has put enormous pressure on the agave plant itself – which, as we noted at Mezcalito Chelsea, takes many years to mature. Booms in demand can lead to shortages, to plants being harvested too young, to environmental strain, and to hardship for the farmers caught in the cycle of a suddenly fashionable crop. The rehabilitation of agave has been wonderful for drinkers; its consequences for the land and the growers of Mexico are more complicated.
The bar
A well-regarded South Kensington agave bar doing a fair 4.4 across a modest sample, part of a small group riding, and helping to drive, the great agave boom.
Verdict
Good, well-rated, and – as the second of a matched pair – one more proof that the star rating measures the sample and the postcode, not the spirit in the glass.
Sip a good mezcal slowly, respect the years it took the plant to grow, and enjoy the drink that went, in one generation, from student penance to connoisseur’s delight.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
Elk detail klopt. Je merkt dat het verdiend is.
This reads like someone’s been quietly furious for exactly the right amount of time and finally documented it all in perfect detail.