MO bar champions mezcal

MO Bar at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong put the focus on mezcal last week for its annual “Masters of Mixology” series.

San Francisco-based mezcal expert Ryan Fitzgerald was brought in and partnered with head bartender Jigmee Lama to present a number of cocktails and tasting flights to consumers.

Speaking to the drinks business, Fitzgerald explained that as well as creating some of his own cocktails he had adapted other popular examples such as “Penicillin”.

“Easiest to do with mezcal is look at classic Scotch cocktails and ask, ‘would it work with mezcal [instead]?’”

White spirits are still a small category in Asia and Fitzgerald admitted it was a “very new market” for something like mezcal but he added he hoped that “by educating the market before it becomes hungry for the ‘idea’ of mezcal,” it would save it from the trap into which Tequila has fallen, with some brands cutting corners in quality and also a weakened grip on its history and traditions.