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Soho House | Mexico City

Opened by John Rexer in the early 2000s, Café No Sé has become the beating heart of an international music scene in Antigua, Guatemala. This is the original home of Ilegal Mezcal + the first mezcal bar opened outside of Mexico.

Bar Ilegal is an experiential outpost of Café No Sé, and Ilegal’s 2023 tour celebrated 20(ish) years since the opening of our legendary home. After an amazing year circling North America, beginning in Oaxaca and ending in New York City, the Ilegal team snuck in one more celebration in January, a few weeks behind schedule, in the always welcoming Mexico City.

DJ Paurro set the mood for a very stylish crowd, as they tried our Mezcal Margaritas, Spicy Palomas, Negronis, and neat mezcal pours. In the room just off the bar, we were honored to have our talented friends Lapiztola join us from Oaxaca to screen print custom t-shirts for our fans. At 9PM, SUSU took to the stage, and all bets were off. Liza and Kia prowled across the pricy furniture and its inhabitants, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

Announcements for our 2024 Bar Ilegal Tour are coming soon. Next up for our team is the Paste Magazine East Austin Block Party, showcasing 60+ bands across four stages, March 13-15. RSVP here for more information.

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Public Records | Brooklyn

Opened by John Rexer in the early 2000s, Café No Sé has become the beating heart of an international music scene in Antigua, Guatemala. This is the original home of Ilegal Mezcal + the first mezcal bar opened outside of Mexico.

Bar Ilegal is an experiential outpost of Café No Sé, and the 2023 tour celebrated 20(ish) years since the opening of our legendary home. After stops in Oaxaca, Miami, Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, Austin, and Los Angeles, Ilegal Mezcal made its final stop at Public Records in Brooklyn, and the vibes were off the charts.

The party was expansive, covering the entirety of the property. It held three separate bars, with classic mezcal cocktails featured downstairs, the Musician’s Breakfast outside (complete with Ilegal bottle ice sculpture), and pitch perfect aged mezcal cocktails upstairs in the not-so-secret Reposado Room.

Guest artist Jimmy doled out 42 flash tattoos in the front room, while Classy Screens executed screenprinted t-shirts to the masses in the garden. Watson Soundsystem kept things fun and dancey in the main room, SUSU blew the doors off at 9pm, and then most guests ventured up to the Repo Room, where vinyl DJ Mickey Perez was expertly spinning a playlist of diaspora-spanning dance tracks to finish out the evening.

Pics by Nico Malvaldi ~

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Everson Royce Bar | Los Angeles

Opened by John Rexer in the early 2000s, Café No Sé has become the beating heart of an international music scene in Antigua, Guatemala. This is the original home of Ilegal Mezcal + the first mezcal bar opened outside of Mexico.

Bar Ilegal is an experiential outpost of Café No Sé, and the Bar Ilegal 2023 tour celebrates 20(ish) years since the opening of our legendary home. Following stops in Oaxaca, Miami, Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Austin, the Ilegal Mezcal team made its way out to the Arts District of LA, and our friends at Everson Royce Bar.

Seemingly every one of our 550 RSVPs showed out, grabbed swag, ordered mezcal cocktails with Gilbert Marquez, and enjoyed a killer set from SUSU on the packed outdoor patio.

See how it went down in the gallery below, all pics by Sarah Craig.

2023 REMAINING DATES

DEC 6 [NEW DATE!] – Brooklyn, NY

Click HERE to RSVP to Bar Ilegal

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El Cockfight | Austin

Opened by John Rexer in the early 2000s, Café No Sé has become the beating heart of an international music scene in Antigua, Guatemala. This is the original home of Ilegal Mezcal + the first mezcal bar opened outside of Mexico.

Bar Ilegal is an experiential outpost of Café No Sé, and the Bar Ilegal 2023 tour celebrates 20(ish) years since the opening of our legendary home. After stops in Oaxaca, Miami, Chicago, New Orleans, and Atlanta, the tour hit its stride in Austin on the incredible rooftop at El Cockfight. A rowdy performance from SUSU, mezcal cocktails and education with Gilbert Marquez, and flash tattoos from George Miller.

Pics from a wild night by Sarah Craig in the gallery below ~

2023 REMAINING DATES

NOV 8 – Los Angeles, CA
DEC 6 [NEW DATE!] – Brooklyn, NY

Click HERE to RSVP to Bar Ilegal

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Sister Louisa’s Church | Atlanta

Opened by John Rexer in the early 2000s, Café No Sé has become the beating heart of an international music scene in Antigua, Guatemala. This is the original home of Ilegal Mezcal + the first mezcal bar opened outside of Mexico.

Bar Ilegal is an experiential outpost of Café No Sé. With dates in nine cities, the Bar Ilegal 2023 tour celebrates around 20(ish) years since the opening of our legendary home, bringing mezcal cocktails and education, flash tattoos, and live performances from our dear friends SUSU. After stopping in Oaxaca in April, Miami and Chicago in May, and New Orleans in July, we paid a sweet September visit to Sister Louisa’s Church in Atlanta.

Old friends stopped by, new ones were made over mezcal cocktails, and Black Cat Tattoo Shop handed out a whopping 42 Ilegal flash tats. Special thanks to them, DJ La Superior, and the wonderful team at Sister Louisa’s Church.

More pics by Sarah Craig in the gallery below!

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Sin Madre Tierra, no hay mezcal

Por E.R. Pulgar

Cuando se trata de aquellos de nosotros que manejamos negocios, desde las alturas ejecutivas de la escala corporativa hasta los empresarios individuales, todos tenemos que hacer nuestra parte. Toca ser realistas con nuestra situación actual en lugar de anteponer el comercio sobre los seres humanos. El desafío es poder sostenernos mientras reconocemos esta verdad. Sin la Madre Tierra, no hay humanidad. Sin la Madre Tierra, no hay mezcal.

Siempre hemos hecho un producto que prioriza el enfoque orgánico. El alcohol con el que hicimos nuestro nombre se hace “sin prisa”: no hay apuro, no hay presión, sólo un mezcal chingón. Hemos hecho un compromiso de calidad, lo que significa que nos tomamos nuestro tiempo, usamos métodos artesanales y producimos una pequeña cantidad a la vez. Esto hace que nuestro mezcal sea realmente especial y disminuye el impacto ambiental.

Las plantas que utilizamos para hacer nuestro mezcal son 100% agave espadín cultivado sustentable. No producimos ni exportamos agave silvestre porque hay poca cantidad. De hecho, las especies de agave silvestre en muchas regiones están en riesgo de sobreexplotación. Para proteger el agave y evitar tener plantas que sean demasiado similares genéticamente, nuestro agave se siembra usando semillas y rizomas. Esto ayuda a promover la fuerza de la planta contra las enfermedades. El 5% del rendimiento del agave se deja florecer, permitiendo que murciélagos y colibríes lo polinicen.

Después de aproximadamente una semana, se tritura con una tahona, un molino tradicional tirado por caballos. Luego, el lote se somete a una fermentación al aire libre con levadura silvestre transportada por el aire durante otros cinco a catorce días y se destila en alambiques de cobre de 250 litros. Cualquier pulpa de agave que sobre del proceso se dona a constructores locales y se utiliza para fabricar ladrillos biodegradables y otros materiales ecológicos, como papel. Solo hemos comenzado a arañar la superficie del potencial de la pulpa.

“En el proceso de producción del mezcal, terminas con una masa fibrosa de pulpa con la que necesitas hacer algo”, explica nuestro fundador John Rexer. “La gente pone algo en biodigestores, o lo neutralizan con piedra caliza y luego con fertilizante. Lo que hemos estado haciendo con la pulpa es mezclarla con arcilla y arena, y hacer ladrillos para usar en construcción. También trabajamos con una papelera artesanal que utiliza extensivamente las fibras de agave. Las preparamos, las limpiamos, y los artesanos vienen a recoger la pulpa como una donación.”

Le prestamos la misma atención a la botella como al mezcal que contiene. Cuando llegó el COVID, la consiguiente escasez mundial de vidrio puso en marcha nuestras iniciativas de sostenibilidad en lo que respecta a nuestras botellas. Al encontrarnos sin dónde poner el mezcal que hacemos con tanto amor, nos vimos obligados a cambiar de dirección. Esta se convirtió en nuestra afiliación actual con Fusion y Formas, un fabricante de vidrio reciclado con sede en Guadalajara. Además de ser la fabricante de vidrio de la marca de tequila Patrón por varios años, tienen una larga historia de ayudar a empresas licoreras exitosas a reducir su huella de carbono. Además, son una pequeña empresa familiar que quería echar para delante después de los efectos de la intentaba superar la pandemia al igual que nosotros. Ellos necesitaban un cliente cuando nosotros buscábamos vidrio — resultó ser una combinación perfecta.

El proceso comienza recolectando vidrio de la calle y en centros de reciclaje. Después de limpiarlo, lo compilan y lo comprimen para crear la materia prima a partir de la cual se producen las nuevas botellas. Cuando finaliza ese proceso, cada una de nuestras hermosas botellas de vidrio reciclado se llena con mezcal que se ha estado sentando en los barriles que horneamos a mano y obtenemos de nuestro productor de barriles Kelvin Cooperage. Luego, los taponamos, etiquetamos y numeramos a mano. Además del nuevo proceso de nuestras botellas, estamos trabajando en una línea de vasos ecológicos para reducir el desperdicio. Tan importante como es el mezcal en sí, el contenedor es lo que termina (con suerte) en el reciclaje, por lo que es muy importante que tengan el menor impacto ambiental posible desde la creación hasta el consumo y la eliminación.

“El vidrio reciclado cuesta más, pero es considerablemente mejor para el medio ambiente y la calidad del vidrio”, dice Rexer sobre la asociación con Fusion y Formas. “Brilla de una manera específica, un peso diferente, un color sutil cuando capta la luz del sol. Es especial. Estoy muy contento de que estemos haciendo algo reciclado y de habernos convertido en uno de los clientes más grandes de una empresa familiar que estaba pasando por dificultades como nosotros”.

No somos los únicos que nos tomamos esto en serio. Nuestro socio de eventos Forest Hills Stadium está comprometido al objetivo de una alineación neutral en carbono, con la esperanza de ser carbono positivo para el 2022. Ser positivo para el clima en nuestras dos industrias no es fácil, pero a través de su apoyo a iniciativas como el secuestro de carbono y la protección de la vida silvestre proyecto en Colorado que neutralizará más carbono del que generará durante la temporada 2022, está claro que el primer paso es imaginar un mundo de comercio y entretenimiento con menos impacto ambiental. La gente quiere beber y festejar, pero no podemos hacerlo si no hay planeta y si no limpiamos después de la fiesta. Es algo de lo que nos enorgullecemos mucho, y un principio sobre el que nuestro fundador construyó la empresa cuando se enamoró de los entornos naturales exuberantes y verdes que encontró en sus viajes por Antigua y Oaxaca.

“Cuando funde Ilegal, me enamoré de partes de Oaxaca que eran prístinas”, recuerda Rexer. “Había orgullo en esa conservación, y me preguntaba a mi mismo cómo cultivar algo y no destruir aquello de lo que me enamoré. Es importante preguntarse realmente, a medida que crece una empresa, si uno desea volver a un lugar del que se enamoró y encontrar contaminación en su lugar. Es importante construir con socios y dejar un espacio mejor que cuando lo encontraste. El comercio, por su naturaleza hoy en día, está lejos de ser neutral en carbono. Tenemos que reconocer eso, descubrir cómo minimizamos nuestros desechos y predicar con el ejemplo. No vas a tener un éxito del 100 por ciento en reducir por completo tu propia huella, pero uno debe minimizar ser parte del problema y cuidar su propio jardín lo mejor posible”.

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No Mezcal Without Mother Earth

By E.R. Pulgar

From the highest rungs of the corporate ladder to individual entrepreneurs, we all have to do our part. We have to be real with our current situation rather than put commerce over human beings. The challenge is being able to sustain ourselves while acknowledging this truth. Without Mother Earth, there is no humanity. Without Mother Earth, there is no mezcal.

We’ve always made a product that puts the organic approach first. The drink we made our name on is made “sin prisa” — no rush, no hurry, just a great mezcal. We have made a commitment to quality, which means we take our time, we use artesanal methods, and we produce a small quantity at a time. This makes our mezcal truly special, and lessens environmental impact.

The plants that we use to make our mezcal are 100% cultivated sustainable Espadín agave, double-distilled in the Santiago Matatlan Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. We do not produce or export wild agave because the supply is limited. In fact, wild agave species in many regions are at risk from over-harvesting. In order to protect the agave and avoid having plants that are too genetically similar, our agave is planted using both seeds and rhizomes. This helps promote the strength of the plant against illnesses. 5% of the agave yield will be left to flower, allowing bats and hummingbirds to pollinate it.

Once the crop is ripe, our mezcal makers harvest the agave plant — which weighs between 40-100 kilos — with machetes and long palanca (crowbar). This is what gives our mezcal its sweet, agave-forward taste. The crop is then roasted for five to seven days in earthen ovens. After about a week, it’s crushed with a traditional horse drawn mill called a tahona. The batch then undergoes open-air fermentation with wild airborne yeast for another five to fourteen days and is distilled in 250-liter copper stills. Any leftover agave pulp from the process is donated to local builders and used to make biodegradable bricks and other eco-friendly materials such as paper. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the pulp’s potential.

“In the production process of mezcal, you end up with a fibrous mass of pulp that you need to do something with,” explains our founder John Rexer. “People put some of it in bio digesters, or they neutralize it with limestone and then fertilizer. What we have been doing with it is mixing it with clay and sand, and making a brick out of it to then use in construction. We also work with an artisan paper maker that uses agave fibers extensively. We prepare these fibers and clean them up, and the artisans come to pick up the pulp as a donation.“

We give just as much attention to the bottle as we do to the mezcal in it. When COVID-19 pandemic struck, the ensuing global glass shortage kick-started our sustainability initiatives as far as our bottles were concerned. Finding ourselves with nowhere to put the mezcal we make with such care, we were forced to pivot. This became our current partnership with Fusion y Formas, a recycled-glass manufacturer based in Jalisco, Mexico. Besides being the former glass maker for Patrón, they have a long history of helping liquor brands reduce their carbon footprint. Just like us, they were a small family company trying to get through the pandemic. Seeking a customer at the same time we were looking to buy turned out to be a match made in heaven.

They begin by collecting glass off the streets and at recycling facilities. After cleaning it up, the glass is compiled and compressed to create the raw material from which new bottles are produced. When that process is done, each of our beautiful recycled glass bottles is filled with one of our three mezcal expressions: Joven, Reposado, or Añejo. Then, we hand-cork, label, and number them. Along with our new process for bottles, we’re looking at a line of eco-friendly cups to reduce waste. As important as the mezcal itself is, the container is what ends up (hopefully) in a recycling bin, so it’s deeply important that they have the least environmental impact possible from creation to consumption to disposal.

“Recycled glass costs more but is considerably better in terms of the environment and the quality of the glass,” says Rexer about the partnership. “It has a slight sparkle to it, a different weight, a slight color when it picks up sunlight. It’s special. I’m very happy that we’re doing something that’s recycled and to have become one of the larger customers of a family business that was struggling like ours.”

We’re not the only ones taking environmental consciousness seriously — and choose our partners accordingly. Our events partner Forest Hills Stadium is committed to the goal of a carbon neutral lineup, eventually hoping to be carbon positive by 2022. Being climate positive in both our industries isn’t easy, but through their support of initiatives like carbon sequestration and wildlife protection project in Colorado that will neutralize more carbon than they will generate during the 2022 season, it’s clear that the first step is imagining a world of commerce and entertainment with less of an environmental impact. We all want to let loose and celebrate with a glass of mezcal or three, but we can’t do that if there’s no planet and if we don’t clean up afterward. It’s something we take a lot of pride in, and a tenet that our founder built the company on as he fell in love with the lush verdant natural environments he encountered on his travels through Antigua, Guatemala and Oaxaca.

“When I began Ilegal, I fell in love with parts of Oaxaca that were pristine,” Rexer recalls. “There was pride in that conservation, and I asked myself how you grow something and not destroy the thing you fell in love with in the first place. It’s important to really ask yourself, as a company grows, if you want to come back to a place that you fell in love with and find pollution in its place. It’s important to build with partners and leave a space hopefully better than when you found it. Commerce, by its nature in this day and age, is far from carbon neutral. We have to recognize that, figure out how we minimize our waste, and lead by example. You’re not going to succeed 100 percent in completely reducing your own footprint, but one needs to minimize being part of the problem and tend to your own garden as best as possible.”

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Mezcal vs Tequila | What’s the Difference?

Mezcal vs Tequila: What's the Difference? Mezcaleros at Mal de Amor harvesting Espadín agave.

These two agave spirits are often thought of as interchangeable, but each has unique characteristics that result in different flavors and experiences. The easiest way to remember the differences between Mezcal vs Tequila is the Three P’s:

PLACE // Both are from Mexico, but Tequila is primarily produced in Jalisco, while Mezcal can be made in many states across Mexico. However, most mezcal you’ll see in the U.S. is made in Oaxaca, about 80%, including Ilegal Mezcal.

PLANT // Tequila can only be made from Blue Weber agave, while Mezcal is made from a large variety of agaves, the most popular being Espadín agave.

PROCESS // Tequila is generally cooked with steam above ground, while Mezcal is roasted over a fire in earthen pits. Also, while Tequila is typically made in large quantities, Mezcal is nearly always made in small batches.

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Handcrafted in small batches by fourth-generation mezcaleros, Ilegal Mezcal Joven, Reposado, and Añejo are all made with perfectly ripe, sustainable Espadín agave, double distilled in the Santiago Matatlan Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Our mezcal has a beautifully balanced profile, with a mouthful of agave and just a hint of smoke.

Elements of the Ilegal Mezcal production process can be seen in the photo gallery below. If you’d like to tour Mal de Amor, our partner palenque in Oaxaca, go to our Visit Oaxaca page to learn more.

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The Will & The Way | New Orleans

Ilegal helped introduce the world to aged mezcal with our Reposado and Añejo expressions. In 2022, we launched our limited edition 7 Year Añejo Mezcal, aged in just 35 barrels of French Oak. To help celebrate and bring these delicious mezcals to the masses, we developed the Reposado Room.

We envisioned the Repo Room as a little oasis to drink elegant aged mezcal cocktails in a laid back atmosphere, listen to great music, and make new friends, and there was no better test for this approach than at Tales of the Cocktail, when the entire spirit industry descends upon New Orleans in the sweltering July heat.

Thanks to the beautiful cocktail program developed in partnership with The Will & The Way, the Soul/R&B playlist by DJs Liza and Kia from SUSU, and the warm ambiance created by the Ilegal team, we had a gorgeous evening to cap off a lovely week at Tales (An extra special shoutout to air conditioning).

Photos by Sarah Craig in the gallery below.

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Barrel Proof | New Orleans

Opened by John Rexer in the early 2000s, Café No Sé has become the beating heart of an international music scene in Antigua, Guatemala. This is the original home of Ilegal Mezcal + the first mezcal bar opened outside of Mexico.

Bar Ilegal is an experiential outpost of Café No Sé. The 2023 tour set off in April in Oaxaca, and continued in May with consecutive stops in Chicago and Miami. July brought an unscheduled appearance in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail 2023. Friends and fans of the brand poured into Barrel Proof to escape the sweltering heat, enjoy some ice cold mezcal cocktails, get tattooed (26 in all!), and witness a barnstorming afternoon performance by SUSU.

Have a look in the gallery below, photos by Sarah Craig:

2023 REMAINING DATES

SEP 19 – Atlanta, GA (new date)
SEP 21 – Austin, TX (new date)
NOV 8 – Los Angeles, CA
DEC 6 [NEW DATE!] – Brooklyn, NY

Click HERE to RSVP to Bar Ilegal