Among our favorites… was our No. 8 bottle, the floral, herbal Banhez, made from the cuishe agave, which might explain its quirky fresh, meadowy feeling.

“My favorite of all my well spirits,” says Campbell of Banhez Mezcal, produced by a 36-family co-op in San Miguel Ejutla, Oaxaca. “Tons of tropical notes of banana and pineapple,” he says. It’s also in Mueller’s well at R&D in Philly: “It’s super cost-effective, and expresses a nice balance between smoke and agave.”

Mezcal is a very complex spirit, one as amazing and diverse as the culture it derives from. If you’re already familiar with the spirit, I thought I was too. But after taking a visit to the Mexican state of Oaxaca with Banhez Mezcal, I realized how deep the rabbit hole actually goes—and how little I knew.

…Mezcal From Oaxaca is a project created to support a group of independent mezcaleros bound by a common love for the land. Each mezcal is sourced from a unique region in Oaxaca's Central Valley and represents a singularly exquisite expression of the village's terroir. We have carefully selected five different mezcals from the Mezcal From Oaxaca Project that best represent the region and its complex ethno-geographic spectrum, including Banhez Mezcal.

Banhez is marked by earthiness with mushroom and damp earth on the nose. On the palate, it has loads of smoke, a pleasant earthiness, a viscous mouthfeel, and a little sweetness but a dry, long and lingering finish. This is Mezcal to savour in good company at the end of a night.

The smoke is there at first but ultimately it plays a background role to the gorgeous fruit driven aromas of lime rind, banana, to the more tropical presence of star fruit and papaya. Very terroir driven, as all good mezcal should be, the beautiful integration of elements on the palate are accented by peppery flavors that waken the senses.

Banhez Mezcal is produced out of Oaxaca, Mexico from a consortium of small farmers. The spirit is produced in wood-fired pits to bake the agave and donkey drawn stones (tahonas) to crush the agave for fermentation and distillation. Where the tequila world is familiar with Blue Weber agave, this mezcal uses an agave blend of 90% espadin agave and 10% barril...the former a common style of mezcal and the latter surpassingly rare. The brand is trademarked to Integradora Comercial de Ejutla.

Banhez Mezcal was named "Best Mezcal" in the 2017 San Francisco World Spirits Competition (first in a field of 29 mezcals).

These days, it’s not easy to get the Soler sisters sitting still in a room together. It’s understandable, given that they have three bars to run in various corners of Nashville. But when it does happen—even if it’s over caffeine instead of tequila—the conversation will likely turn to cocktails. 

“I think some of our best drinks come from working together,” says Britt Soler, 30, the younger sister by 5 1/2 years. 

…when the team was preparing to open their latest venture, Bar Sotano, they reached out to Banhez to create a special Bar Sotano house mezcal, a Barril/Espadin ensemble that comes from the cooperative Integradora Comercial de Ejutla SA de CV ICESA in Ejutla that produces the Banhez line. By working with Banhez, and the cooperative, they have a much larger group of mezcaleros to draw from, which diminishes any potential problems of a shortage. The team went to Ejutla to work with the producers to create what they now serve – a 45% ensemble that works with the more herbal flavor profile of Bar Sotano.