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By Elyse Glickman
If first impressions are the most important, the kind of mezcals and tequilas on your back bar — and the number of each you choose — will impact how effectively you can entice new cocktail customers while keeping existing ones in your fold.
Cristhian Rodriguez
For Cristhian Rodriguez, beverage director at elNico Rooftop Restaurant and Bar at Penny Hotel in Brooklyn, New York, intention is important — which means thinking ahead to what he wants his back bar to look like and to the story he wants the selection to tell.
There’s a limit to what elNico’s back bar can accommodate (every bar, after all, has some limit on the number of bottles it can hold) — and while Rodriguez sometimes wishes he had more room, he says the limited space forces him to pick and choose his spirits more carefully.
“We opened with 100 bottles in May 2023, and now have 259 different agave labels behind our bar,” Rodriguez says. “This strong selection of bottles helped us create a strong narrative of Mexico.”
Carlos Gaytán
Chef Carlos Gaytán, who developed food and beverage programs for Southern California-based Patina Group’s Céntrico and Tiendita in Anaheim’s Downtown Disney District, suggests looking at product selection from three major angles.
"Is your concept agave-focused? If yes, then having up to 50 percent of your total menu be agave spirits is appropriate. Next, consider whether your clientele is interested in trying multiple different agaves throughout the evening, or just drinking one agave spirit all night,” Gaytán says. “If your clientele drinks a lot of tequila but only one brand, focus on that brand and try to expand them out to other offerings from that brand. If they are open to trying different products, have only one or two things from each brand you work with, and showcase stylistic differences between similar products.”
Like Rodriguez, Gaytán also says shelf space is a major consideration, and stresses that bar managers or buyers should not cram shelves with more bottles than the available space can reasonably and attractively accommodate. Overcluttering, he notes, makes it less likely you’ll sell customers on anything new because nothing will stand out in the sea of bottles crowding the back bar.
"A crowded bar is overly stimulating to the guests, and they will just stick to ordering their go-to's," he cautions.
At Descanso Restaurant in Costa Mesa (and opening soon in Los Angeles), owner Rob Arrellano’s approach to curating tequilas and mezcals is guided by several key principles. They include keeping a pulse on industry trends and a having a balance of popular and innovative brands behind the bar to appeal to a wide range of customer tastes and preferences.
“Our foremost aim is to offer diversity, showcasing a spectrum of styles and flavor profiles, ranging from blanco to añejo tequilas and joven to extra añejo mezcals,” says Arrellano. “We source products from distilleries (known) for their craftsmanship and prioritize regional diversity and distinct expressions emerging from various locales across Mexico. We incorporate both popular and innovative brands into our collection.”
Making sure that staff members who will be communicating with customers know enough about the spirits behind the bar to respond to questions about and describe the nuances of each one also is key, Arrellano says.
“Equally important is the ongoing education of our staff, ensuring they are well-versed in the stories and characteristics of each spirit,” he stresses. “This empowers them to provide guests with knowledgeable recommendations and a truly enriching experience.”
Riesler Morales
Providing customers with a full picture of Mexican agave and spirits producers is the goal for Riesler Morales, head of mixology at Casa Chi, Chef Richard Sandoval’s new cocktail-forward Nikkei lounge in Chicago’s InterContinental Hotel. He’s achieved that goal with Casa Chi’s robust agave-forward tequila and mezcal list, which features more than 142 unique selections available in flights, tastings and mixed cocktails including agaves such as Don Fulano, Pierde Almas, and “some other good emerging product brands.”
His advice?
“Start with a selection of tequilas or mezcals that are easy to drink and are recognized by your clients. After this, learn sub-varietals of agaves and producers and make a small selection of products different from those in your market," Morales advises. “As representatives of a category like agave, we must think about having a selection of espadin mezcals (including) artisanal and ancestral mezcals.”
Specific brands, he adds, aren’t important as long as everything in a particular category or sub-category of spirit is covered in a way that allows the venue to, in his words, “praise these spirits outside our country.”
Finally, Lorraine Morales, general manager at Rumorosa at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, believes a good rule of thumb is to have selections of blanco, reposado, and añejo behind the bar.
“Definitely look for character and great taste, and (focus) on finding flavorful spirits that are great in any set of a drink, whether being served neat or in a cocktail,” Morales says.
Elyse Glickman is a Los Angeles-based writer who writes extensively about bar issues. She is a frequent contributor to el Restaurante.