The Essential Tequila & Mezcal Companion: How to Select, Collect & Savor Agave Spirits - A Cocktail Book

by Tess Rose Lampert

An indispensable and accessible guide to Mexico’s treasured agave spirits.

Packed with information, tips, resources, and 300 tasting notes and accompanying producer profiles, The Essential Tequila & Mezcal Companion is a crash course on the fastest growing spirits category in the United States. Lampert provides insights on the history and production of the spirits, plus guidance for how to stock your bar, organize a tasting with food pairings, and create infused syrups that will complement craft cocktails. Lampert includes more than 30 cocktail recipes that highlight the complexities and bold flavors of agave spirits. Plus, the book contains transportive photography throughout and a thorough reference section for readers who are thirsty for more. 

304 pages, Hardcover

Published February 7, 2023

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Outsourced a lot of information to other sources.

[Chance · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very serviceable introduction into the world of mezcal that, to me, felt a little too much like a fancy Wikipedia page than an authoritative source on tequila and mezcal.

The book starts off great with about 60 pages of background and information about agave spirits, however it then goes into a somewhat antiquated series of brand reviews of tequila. This may have been very useful 20 years ago, but now that more up to date reviews of these same brands newer batches of tequila is available every minute, it made it kind of hard to see the point of this section. The mezcal review section is somewhat more valuable than the tequila section because of the lack of general information on the wide varieties of mezcal brands, but I’m sure that in a couple years mezcal will be as information ridden as tequila has become. While the consistently high quality photos are expected and delivered, with a book so light on content, I would have enjoyed several more of them.

The final section is a section of cocktail recipes that I’m sure are great.

This is a pretty book, and it’s a good way to get acquainted with these two agave spirits, it is mostly meant to be pretty somewhere near your at home bar and not necessarily read or referenced deeply.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trying to “level up” my interests, and this was a great reference point. Going to be fun trying out all the recipes in the back.

[Abner · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly thoughtful look at tequila and mezcal. Appreciated the portraits of mezcal producers and her reviews of various expressions. Gives me a great list of new mezcal to try.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of bev books and the flavor descriptions in this are leaps and bounds ahead of most anything else!