The fervor for mezcal, tequila and other agave spirits has reached a fever pitch in the United States, and as interest in the category continues to accelerate, so does the number of agave-centric bar openings from coast to coast. It’s never been easier to create a mezcalería-style program stateside featuring a long list of bottles, but ask any hardcore agave aficionado about how the growth of the category is threatening its traditional roots, and you’ll get a lecture faster than you can say “salt-suck-lime.” The category is mired in political, economic and environmental issues, which has prompted some savvy bar owners to take a more mindful approach to obtaining, promoting and selling these spirits to curious drinkers.
Many bars around the country are going the extra mile in this quest. At places like Barcoa in Phoenix, the owners and staff travel to Mexico to actively pursue a deeper education about the complex systems that fuel the category. Cosme in New York City and Madre in Los Angeles have educational programming baked into back-of-house training, and in most cases this education extends to the public, via tastings, menu design, flights, classes and industry meet-and-greets. And others, like Bar Sótano in Chicago and Fern Bar in Kansas City, Missouri, aim to thoughtfully curate backbar collections that support and promote producers who are working to keep heritage practices alive in the face of growing pressures to industrialize. The following 10 mezcal bars check all of these boxes, and then some.
