Apparently, Chopin Imports has constructed an in depth portfolio of premium manufacturers past vodka, with a particular give attention to Mexican agave spirits.
Mezcal making is woven into the material of many Mexican communities and Chopin Imports has partnered with two artisan producers, Koch El Mezcal and Maguey Spirits, who each share a dedication to sustainability and conventional strategies. “We’ve got partnered with these we really feel are the highest two producers all through Mexico,” says Chopin Imports COO Chuck Kane’. “They aren’t contract manufacturers. They stay and breathe what they do 24 hours a day, seven days per week, one year a yr.”
Koch El Mezcal’s origins date again to the Mexican Revolution. The household enterprise was resurrected in 2009 when Carlos Moreno resumed its traditions. In the present day the corporate is community-run and devoted to environmental stewardship. They work with 60 mezcal producing households from greater than 20 communities in and round Oaxaca, making a portfolio constituted of wild, cultivated, and semi-cultivated agaves. Koch El Mezcal has additionally pioneered single agave mezcals, showcasing the variations in wild agave vegetation. Along with the standard Espadin, you will notice names like Arroqueno, Tepeztate, Tobalá, Barril, Tobasiche and Madrecuishe. Koch’s Ensamble mezcal blends 4 agave, Maguey Cirial, Tobalá, Tobasiche, Lumbre, together with types of agaves sourced from native households.
Though not all obtainable but within the U.S., Mezcal Burrito Fiestero make ten types of agave native to the state of Durango, making it essentially the most numerous and unique assortment of mezcals from that area. Ensamble blends two of Durango’s most consultant wild agaves, Agave Cenizo and Agave Verde, for distinctive mezcal.
We requested Chuck Kane’ to inform us extra about Chopin Imports dive into the world of agave spirits.
Inform us about Chopin Imports line of Mezcals.
We’ve got partnered with these we really feel are the highest two producers all through Mexico. Each Koch El Mezcal, from Oaxaca within the South and Maguey Spirits from Durango within the North, are family-owned and dedicated to the traditions of the communities they work with, sustainability, high quality, and keenness for what they’re doing. They aren’t “contract manufacturers.” They stay and breathe what they do 24 hours a day, seven days per week, one year a yr.
What makes these Mezcal manufacturers stand out from different Mezcal available on the market as we speak.
Having these manufacturers from the north and the south opens up a bigger world of what Mezcal may be with a big choice of totally different agave species to work with which might be indigenous to every area. For instance, Koch El Mezcal works with over 30 species of agave from over 20 totally different communities in Oaxaca. Maguey Spirits affords Mezcal and Sotol varietals from throughout Durango, Chihuahua, Guerrero and Michoacan that aren’t produced in Oaxaca. Different manufacturers can’t or haven’t chosen to go this deep into the world of agave.
Mezcal is having a second. Why do you assume the time was proper for this spirit to turn out to be so in style?
I believe as shoppers we’re curious to see what else is on the market. Mezcal was all the time the primary distilled agave spirit, and it’s lastly beginning to get the eye it deserves.
What ought to bartenders/shoppers find out about Mezcal?
Versatility is the very first thing that pops into my head. Mezcal is sort of a chameleon; it may be utilized in so many traditional cocktails to alter the flavour profile into one thing by no means considered earlier than. Swap Mezcal for the bottom spirit in your favourite Whiskey, Gin or Tequila cocktail, and I believe most will probably be very pleasantly stunned.
Something so as to add about its label/packaging?
The main focus for these manufacturers is absolutely the liquid within the bottles. Sustainability and social duty are all the time on the prime of the checklist for these producers. They replicate this in creating the packaging, utilizing sustainably sourced and recycled merchandise produced in Mexican communities each time doable.
Inform us what Mezcal Gin is. How is that this spirit made? What are its finest makes use of? What ought to bartenders know?
Mezcal Gin is an unimaginable idea. Made within the conventional Ancestral methodology however including the botanicals throughout the second distillation, stylistically like a “Pechuga” Mezcal. Any traditional Gin cocktail is immediately higher, in my view.
What can we count on from Chopin Imports sooner or later?
Our objective is to be referred to as having one in every of, if not the perfect, agave portfolios within the USA. We’ve got the nice fortune of additionally representing Felipe Camarena’s Terralta Tequila as effectively. Though this is probably not a model too many individuals have heard of but, small manufacturing from Felipe’s El Pandillo Distillery, Terralta is destined for “cult standing” amongst Tequila drinkers all over the place. Keep tuned… We will probably be including to our Tequila portfolio within the close to future with one other small manufacturing Tequila you gained’t wish to miss out on.
