The holidays are a time to celebrate with family, friends, and (of course) a good bottle of mezcal. We’ve curated this list to help you maximize your holiday mezcal experience. Whether you’re a long-time mezcal enthusiast, new to mezcal, or shopping for someone special, the following items are worth considering.
Copitas and Veladoras
Outside of the actual bottle of mezcal, the most important gift you can give is something nice to drink from. After all, we don’t want to see people pouring Real Minero into a Solo cup! The best options you have are veladoras, copitas, and small glassware that could be used for sipping scotch. Veladoras and copitas are both traditional ways of sipping mezcal. You’ll see them both used frequently in Oaxaca and elsewhere in Mexico. The scotch glassware is not necessarily traditional, but it’s very similar as it provides some room for the mezcal to breath. Here are a few options:
Books about mezcal
Once you’ve got something nice to drink your mezcal out of, there’s the question of what to do while sipping. We recommend reading about mezcal. With a rich history and culture, it seems there’s always something new to learn and more knowledge to be found. There are lots of reputable resources available online, but it often feels better to just curl up with a good book. Fortunately, there are several book options available. Here are the two books that we recommend this holiday season:
Mezcal PhD’s Holy Smoke! It’s Mezcal!
Most people familiar with mezcal are also familiar with the Mezcal PhD blog. His site has a wealth of knowledge and his book, Holy Smoke! It’s Mezcal!, is a must read for anyone interested in learning more about this smoky spirit. From novice to aficionado, everyone has something they can learn from this highly entertaining book that covers a wide variety of topics related to the mezcal world. It’s a fairly light and quick read, with lots of good mezcal knowledge, humor, and puns. Read our full review here.
Emma Janzen’s Mezcal: The History, Craft & Cocktails of the World’s Ultimate Artisanal Spirit
This book was just released this year and it’s quickly become the quintessential coffee table book about mezcal. It features a rich history of mezcal as well as some fantastic photography that details everything from agave cultivation to the distillation of some of your favorite spirits. It’s complete with a recipe section as well, so you can dive into several recommended smoky cocktails. Our in-depth review of this book should be published soon. In the meantime, we recommend that you check it out for yourself.
Those are our main suggestions for this holiday season and we hope they’re helpful as you celebrate the holidays this year. Mezcal is growing quickly in the US, Europe, and really everywhere else around the world. As more and more people begin enjoying this magic elixir, we’ll see more related products available. We hope these gift ideas help you find something special for someone special. No matter what you’re celebrating this December, we hope you do it well!
