You are put behind the bar rather than in front of it, and taught the drinks by someone whose bar has a queue on a Tuesday.
The room from the other side. Where everything lives and why it lives there.
Mezcal, tequila, raicilla, sotol and bacanora tasted flat, before anything is built on them.
Balance first, then technique. Yours will be wrong and then, quite suddenly, right.
Proper food, because four hours of tasting without it is a bad idea.
You are given the shelf and a brief. The coctelero fixes what you get wrong.
Mexico City’s bar scene is one of the strongest in the world and has almost nothing to do with the drinks the country is known for abroad.
The evening covers the agave spirits properly — including mezcal, raicilla and sotol, which are distinct categories rather than variations — and the technique that separates a good bar from a loud one.
Watching someone make a drink teaches you almost nothing. Making six yourself, badly, with someone correcting your grip and your ice, teaches you a surprising amount in one evening.
The bar is closed. There is nobody waiting and nothing to rush.
You will drink a fair amount across four hours, though most of it is in tasting measures. Transport home is included.
Non-drinkers get a real version of this — the same technique, built without alcohol, and the coctelero takes it seriously.
You leave with the recipes, written properly, in the measures you actually used.
It is closer to a shift. You are behind the bar, using the working setup, with the bar closed to the public.
You are told when the house replies. It rotates through the season.
The bar has to close first, so the evening starts when it does. Afternoon versions are occasionally possible.
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Read moreYou are put behind the bar rather than in front of it, and taught the drinks by someone whose bar has a queue on a Tuesday.
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