CNBC

March 2010


Wildman Begins 'Ilegal' Activities... Ilegal (eeh-lay-gal) Mezcal Launched 'Legally' in Select US Markets

Frederick Wildman and Sons, Ltd., is pleased to announce that it has officially--and legally--become the national importer of Ilegal Mezcal (pronounced eeh-lay-gal), a traditional Mexican liquor made from the agave plant by mezcaleros in Tlacolula, Oaxaca (Mexico). The somewhat sinister, yet unique name, arose from John Rexer's numerous expeditions south across the border, "creatively" bringing his favorite mezcals to patrons of his bohemian tequila/mezcal bar, Cafe No Se, in Antigua, Guatemala. "I fell in love with Mezcal in Oaxaca, the heart and home of Mezcal culture," commented John Rexer, owner of Ilegal Mezcal brand, "and I wanted to cultivate this cultural love affair that began for me three decades ago, and share it with the rest of the world." Unlike most Tequilas which are, today for the most part, distilled industrially, Ilegal Mezcal is a 'small village' effort--a product entirely handcrafted from the heart of the Espadin agave plant found in various towns across Mexico. The age-old process begins by baking the agave in an earthen pit which is stone ground to a pulp; leaving it to naturally ferment, and then, distilling twice in small batches.

"We work with small artisanal palenques because we love the mezcal they produce and the Oaxacan culture from which it comes," says John. "Traditional, artisanal mezcal -- vintage, small batch and handmade -- is a part of Oaxaca that links the individual and the community to the land and sun and time. By working with these small producers throughout Oaxaca we hope to help preserve both the tradition and the spirit." Rexer believes, "Mezcal is not a product, it is a culture. It is as nuanced as the lines in the hands that make it. It is the opposite of industrial. It is familial, communal and ceremonial. It is new each year and the same as it was 500 years ago." "Mezcal is something from the earth, all natural," says Rexer, "the only ingredients that are permitted in the making of this product are: agave, water, sun, location and time. Mezcal is actually not a product", he continued, "it is a culture, and to drink mezcal is to enter the ritual of Oaxaca," Ilegal Mezcal produces three different styles: Joven, a lighter-styled mezcal with notes of anise, white and red pepper, light fruit with a smooth, lingering and heated finish. The Reposado has more of a caramelized tone, with notes of chocolate, butterscotch, medium smoke and some heat with a longer finish. Lastly, the Anejo offers bitter orange notes with hints of maple and cloves ending with an oaky finish.

The Ilegal Mezcal line will be available immediately through Wildman's network of distributors in selected markets: New York, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Florida and Massachusetts.

Tasting Table, New York

March 2010


Illicit Elixir

A mezcal with a sordid past
When American ex-pat John Rexer went to stock his bar in Guatemala, Café No Se, he quickly found that the local mezcal didn't meet his standards. So he did what any speakeasy proprietor would do: He smuggled the good stuff in from Oaxaca. As his bar grew a following of ex-pat artists, writers and NGO workers, Rexer expanded his mezcal collection in lockstep, seeking out small-batch productions. He held blind tastings at his bar and quickly discovered that most of his patrons preferred the smoky spirit to its more widely known counterpart, tequila.

  Eventually, he decided to share his findings with a larger audience and partnered with his favorite mezcalero to make the hooch official (read: legal) and bottle it for sale. His product, Ilegal Mezcal, has finally arrived in the U.S. (in three expressions: blanco, reposado and añejo) and has already become a bartender's favorite on both coasts. In New York, you'll find it at bars like PDT, Mayahuel and Louis 649.

  For those who want to add it to the home reserves, pick up a bottle at Chelsea Wine Vault and try this vibrant cocktail from Freeman's barkeep Maxwell Britten.

Mezcal’s Moment

March 2010


Mezcal has long been something that most Americans only knew as the stuff bottled with a worm and generally tasted on a dare during spring break. (Not to mention the confusion with that other Mexican spirit.) Fortunately, mezcal’s image has recently been given an extreme makeover and small-batch bottlings are becoming more widely available on this side of the border.

  First: All tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila. While premium tequila is made from blue agave, mezcal can be made from other varieties of the plant. Second: Tequila distillers generally steam the agave before fermentation, while for mezcal the agave is usually slow-roasted in oven-like pits lined with hot rocks. This process gives the spirit its signature earthy and smoky dimension.

  There is a vast range of flavors and aromas found among the different mezcals. Some should be sipped like whiskies, while others can be mixed in cocktails. Here are a few of the best.

  ILEGAL MEZCAL:
Ilegal hits the nose with aromas of caramelized apples. You can taste the smoke, as well as a velvety, creamy sweetness on the palate.

Financial Times, London

January 2010


Mexico in a shot glass
by Adam Thomson

When John Rexer first set foot in Antigua, Guatemala’s prized colonial town, he was out of savings and had $500 of breathing space left on his credit card. "I had a long lunch and a few beers, and suddenly realised that I had to do something," recalls the 49-year-old New Yorker.
Seven – mostly precarious – years later, he has found himself selling his own brand of mezcal, a traditional Mexican spirit made from the agave plant. And he is selling it not just in his popular Café No Sé bar in Antigua but also to a handful of hip cocktail bars in Manhattan, New York.
With three partners, Mr Rexer has just signed a contract with Frederick Wildman and Sons, the US wine importer, and hopes to start selling his product soon in California, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas.
It is called Ilegal Mezcal, a nod to the early days when he used to smuggle the spirit from southern Mexico to keep his Guatemalan bar supplied.
Thanks to an investment of close to $400,000 (€282,000, £245,000) from the four partners, production will reach 80,000 bottles this year, compared with about 10,000 in 2007, the first full year of production.
Next year, the plan is to produce 160,000 bottles. He expects the company to be profitable by 2012.
Mr Rexer appears to have timed his expansion pretty much to perfection. A rash of bars that feature mezcal have just opened their doors to a curious and increasingly receptive US public. And mezcal is expected to feature heavily in this year’s Tales of the Cocktail, a drinks festival held each year in New Orleans.
Mr Rexer’s fascination with the drink started almost by accident when he decided to start a tequila bar in a room of his Antigua café, only to discover that the town’s spirits distributors supplied just four kinds – two of which belonged firmly in the "undrinkable" category. That was when he said to himself: "Time to go to Mexico." 
Trips across the border brought him into contact with the Zapotec indigenous culture in the southern state of Oaxaca, where most mezcal is produced. Several "runs" later, it became apparent not only that he preferred mezcal to tequila, but that his Antiguan clients did too.

The result is a complex spirit – smoky and earthy – that varies wildly from village to village. Mr Rexer describes the product as having a "communal, ceremonial, hand-crafted" quality.
Ilegal Mezcal is made by a fourth-generation mezcal producer from Tlacolula, an Oaxacan village.
And, in spite of its name (ilegal is the Spanish word for illegal), it is approved for export by Comercam, the Mexican regulatory body that certifies mezcals.
But given the small quantities being produced, what happens if demand in the US rockets? Sitting at the Café No Sé’s mezcal bar, a cosy room painted in layers of ochre powder paints and accessible to the public only by a tiny opening in a wall hidden by the door of an antique fridge, Mr Rexer says there is spare capacity at the family-run distillery in Tlacolula.
Besides, he says, mezcals can always be blended at nearby family-run distilleries, or "palenques", to match each of Ilegal Mezcal’s three incarnations: "joven", or young; "reposado", rested; and "añejo", aged.
"We’re getting into a potentially very big market but there are a lot of agave plants and palenques in Oaxaca," he says.

Maxim, US Version

September 2009





From Philip Ward
Mixologist at Mayahuel

The Gumption
1 oz Ilegal Reposado mezcal
1 oz PatrÛn Silver tequila
.5 oz Luxardo Maraschino
Cherry liqueur
Dash Angostura bitters
Dash orange bitters.
Stir, pour over rocks.
Add twist of (and garnish with)
grapefruit.

Star Chefs Award, NY

September 2009


StarChefs Announces Its 2009 New York Rising Stars Award Winners-StarChefs New York Rising Stars Revue to be held September 22 at Mandarin Oriental, New York. Please join us to celebrate our New York Rising Stars Award winners at a not-to-be-missed walk-around tasting gala featuring the Rising Star Chefs' signature dishes, wine pairings, fine Champagne, exciting cocktails, and live music. Award winner Maxwell Britten will be making a signature cocktail for this event featuring ILEGAL MEZCAL.

New York Times

April 2009


The name Ilegal gives a sinister panache to the mezcal John Rexer will be selling in New York. It's a wink to when he was smuggling the spirit from village stills in Mexico to his Guatemalan cafe. And that's part of its appeal. Fine mezcals, with a sliver of the market, are still made by Oaxacan villagers in virtual backyard operations. But lately those mezcaleros have found friends to help them get ahead, particularly in New York. Mr. Rexer's brand, which he hopes to import by summer, "Mezcal is very small, very artisanal," he said.


View Original Article

Name Wire

December 2005


by William Lozito

The news that vodka sales are in decline comes just as we see a rise in alternative, tougher tequila and mezcal brand naming. Proof positive is the rise of the Mexican distilled spirit mezcal, and a new brand of it named "Ilegal."I would hazard that even three or four years ago it would be impossible to sell mezcal to anyone or sell people on its artisan qualities. Now, we're seeing bars devoted to it. And names like "Ilegal" scream out "I am alternative. I am edgy. I am real."

William Lozito
President and Chief Branding Officer
Name Wire

Diford's Guide 2008

October 2008


Review: Ilegal-Mezcal Añejo

Taste: A wonderfully hickory-scented smoky nose with sweet vanilla and apple crumble notes leads to a bone dry palate with big smoky flavours that waft across your tongue and mask the more subtle backed/caramelised apple fruity notes that eventually emerge out of the smoke.

Diffords Guide rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Blue Travel

December 2005


Café No Sé is one of the best known places in Antigua Guatemala, you can find people from all over the world, and you dine and drink well, with great music included. John Rexer is a good host with incredible stories, one of his passions is Mezcal; a world he knows very well, he is about to start a new brand "Ilegal Mezcal".

London Tatler

December 2006


"No night's complete without an after-hours poker session with John Rexer at his hole-in-the-wall joint Café No Sé, where fine Mezcal is dealt with every hand."

Washington Post

December 2007


But a more nuanced truth comes out when you share a coffee or a shot of mezcal with Oaxacans or with those, like my friend John Rexer, who have adopted the city."It feels antiseptic," he remarks as we walk through the Zocalo and the adjacent square known as the Alameda. Rexer, an expat American, runs the Café No Sé bar in Antigua, Guatemala. But he spends much of his time in Oaxaca overseeing his latest business venture, a new brand of mezcal named Ilegal. "It feels as though it's been prettied up and staged for the tourists." Yes, it's nice not to be dodging flying rocks, he acknowledges. But in its effort to remove the ugly barricades and trash, the government also swept away a bit of Oaxaca's soul.