Hello and happy Friday! We’re talking tequila today and surprisingly vodka again too. This week Ember & Alma also hosted their first tequila event of the year, which I had the pleasure of attending, and I'm going to try to tell you about it without making you too jealous.
Women-led, Sustainable, and Delicious Tequila
Why Mijenta is More Than Just Really Good Tequila - Plus Event Recap
Ember & Alma’s event highlighting Mijenta was such a wonderful night. Not only did attendees get to taste 5 different expressions of Mijenta but they got to experience those expressions (and more) in many different forms over the course of the evening. I’ll tell you a little more about the event but first let’s dive into why Mijenta was selected.
Mijenta is a standout for all the right reasons and then some. The brand has seen a number of awards for its different offerings, a testament to the dedication of Maestra Tequilera Ana María Romero to her craft. In a historically male-dominated field, Ana María believes that every single step of the process matters. She also believes in letting the agave shine through that process. Mijenta uses only agave, water, and yeast as ingredients in their tequilas. They have a passion for terroir (something that Lui geeks out about often when talking tequila and agave spirits) which they assert gives the agave its unique flavor and minerality. One of the tequilas featured at Ember & Alma’s event was actually Mijenta Maestra Selection Nº 2 which was made to honor the different terroirs of Mexico.
Maybe the most unique thing about Mijenta is actually its dedication to sustainability. It is the first B Corp certified tequila brand. This is largely credited to co-founder Elise Som who holds a masters in sustainability studies from Harvard.
“There’s a Native American saying: ‘We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children,’” Som says. “I wanted to create a better space for my daughter.”
Among other things, the company champions sustainability with practices that encourage biodiversity and carbon neutrality. Their bottles are all made from recycled glass with agave paper labels and boxed in recycled cardboard. They are setting the bar for future agave farms and distilleries and proving that mindful production is possible.
Clearly Mijenta is an outstanding brand. It’s only fitting that Lui planned an outstanding event to honor it. Guests were welcomed in with a cocktail and encouraged to mingle and chat with each other and the brand reps. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of trying one of Lui’s unique cocktails, you know what I mean when I say the drinks are out-of-this-world. Each one was layered and balanced artfully. The three featured cocktails each used a different iteration of Mijenta and were timed perfectly over the evening alongside delicious bites and plates.
It’s never easy picking a favorite, mine might have been the Blanc Space, but it was a tough decision when the Averna-Cadabra was so mind-blowingly complex and delicious.
Needless to say, if you can, you need to come to one of these events. There will be more to come, so keep your eyes out for them.
Something Spicy Is Happening In Vodka
And It’s Not Just The Chili Peppers
We already mentioned how Stoli was facing financial woes last week. Well it seems that someone at Stoli took a big risk to make some money and it might have seriously backfired. Tabasco makers, McIlhenny Co, are suing Stoli Group for trademark infringement. Stoli released their Halapeño Pepper vodka about a month before an official Tabasco-Absolut release landed. Apparently Stoli had been in talks with Tabasco to do a collaboration but the hot sauce company walked away from discussions. Despite being told “no” Stoli went ahead and released the bottle shown below.
I think it’s fair to say that there are clear similarities between Stoli’s labeling and that of Tabasco. Stoli seems to be doubling down on its vodka release and stated that it plans to “vigorously defend its position through the appropriate legal process”.
Best Video We Saw This Week
So the video itself isn’t that impressive, I know. The video did make me want to know more though, so I found Glenfiddich’s website and it’s actually true. The fleet of trucks run by the distillery for distribution are actually fueled with fuel made from the spent grains. Talk about brands doing things sustainably! We want more like this.
Quick Hits:
Planteray released a rum intended to revive an 18th century distillation tradition. It is a limited release from Barbados intended for serious rum afficianados.
Gin might be having a renaissance in the coming years. One distillery is now offering a “smoked gin” during their Ginuary ‘Give Gin a Chance’ campaign.
After a glitch started restricting alcohol-related accounts on Facebook, many are still being slammed with violations despite the company claiming to have “resolved” the issue.
