After a few Vancouver Cocktails Week seminars on tequila it was nice to expand my agave knowledge by discovering three other spirits also made from agave at “Agave Afternoon at The Watson”.
This event was hosted by the Beverage Collection and featured their portfolio. This was an agave-forward lineup with some unexpected bottles from Central and South America.
Held in the picturesque Watson bar the session included tasters of each highlighted spirit, a bespoke cocktail that it was inspired by, and a food pairing from The Watson’s kitchen.
As ticket holders trickled in and took an available seat we were given a warm welcome in the form of a sparkling herbal cocktail made with Basbas (which I only recently discovered from my first VCW 2025 seminar).
One by one we worked our way through some of the best mezcal and tequila on the market, and ended on a sweet note with a collection of aperitivos and amaros.
We started with Don Fulano Blanco, an additive-free tequila made from 100% fully ripen blue agave, from the town of tequila. It is spicy and vegetal offering a clean mixing.
The first cocktail was the Celestial Nectar with Don Fulano Blanco, cilantro infused cointreau, lime, and chocolate bitters. A take on the classic margarita with a smokey black salted rim.
It was well paired with Pina Skewers that helped to cut into acidity of the cocktail with its charred roast that drew out its additional sweetness.
Our second agave tasting was Derrumbes Mezcal San Luis Potosí. The difference between tequila and mezcal is that the agave is cooked, giving mezcal its distinct smokey characteristic. There are ten states in Mexico producing different types of mezcal and this brand pays homage to a few of them. There is a whole mature 35 year old agave that goes into each bottle. It had an unusual sweet and pickled essence to it. A subtle smokiness that ended in savoury dill.
The cocktail was Cinders & Citrus with Derrumbes Mezcal San Luis Potosi, aperol, super taurus, lime, and saline. This was a twist on the classic Screwsriver, originally created to be a remedy for a hangover. Despite the punch-like colour it comes across as more savoury than sweet.
If was paired with a Cotiia Corn Arancini, a round filled with sweet corn kernels, but overwhelmed by the creamy and spicy chipotle that smothered it. The spice of the aioli is cut by the cocktail, its heat is the bridge that brought both together.
The La Venenosa Tabernas Raicilla is not well known in Canada, so it is exciting to see it in our market now. Produced in the Western area of Jalisco, which is not sanctioned to make mezcal, so has been given the title of Raicilla instead. Cooked above ground this is a mezcal that has only recently been recognized in Mexico. There is no barrel aging, the goal is mass production as it already takes a lot time to grow one agave plant. Honeysuckle on the nose, this was less smokey and more briney and tangy than traditional mezcal.
The cocktail was named Roots & Petals, a mix of La Venenosa Tabernas Raicilla, tio pepe sherry, rectified grapefruit, jasmine, honey, and sodo. This is their take on a Paloma where the light citrus and fragrant jasmine shines through.
It seamlessly melds into the fattiness of the Duck Mole Tostada. Slow braised duck and fresh raw onion on a crunchy fried tortilla base. Our table agreed that this was the best pairing of the seminar.
Sotol is not actually made from agave, but they original thought it was. It is a distillate made from Dasylirion wheeleri, which looks alot be like agave, but is actually from an genus that more closely resembles asparagus, but without the funk. The Sotol La Higuera was a curve ball in today’s afternoon with tequilla. Seeing as it doesn’t have a designation, it can be made from anywhere around the world. The smell matches the taste. Saline on the nose with a hint of mellow soy sauce on the palate. Floral, herbal, and vegetal with grassy notes.
This leant itself to the Grassy Fairy, La Higuera Sotol, cocchi rossa, martini bitter, and a absinthe mist. The “Fairy” is from the absinthe. This was The Watson’s take on a Negroni, the boldest pairing with Jicama Serrano.
This was an interesting pairing with a focus on texture. Crispy crunchy cubes soaked in a citrus that helped to open up the cocktail, highlighting the cilantro in the dish and the pepperiness of parsley in the glass.
The session ended on a sweet note with Nodo’s Coconut Tequilana. This is one of the four expressions of Nodo. The name stands for “no denomination of origin”, as the distillery is located a mere five minutes out of the denomination of origin for tequilla.
A five generations old operation that was told to suddenly stop making tequila. As this termination and transition was taking place they were sitting on so much product that they were forced to let rest in stainless steel tanks and allow it to settle. Its name and existence is a statement to big industry and big corporation, as a anti-establishment piece. The tequilana is sweet and creamy like coconut water, with the flavour like biting directly into young coconut meat.
This was made into the Not Quite a Carajillo with Nodo coconut, maxico mistico cortaespantos, and pineapple bitters; topped with a coffee-vanilla foam. Like a Spanish coffee in look and taste, this paired perfectly with the freshly baked Dulce Leche Cookie we had for dessert.
As a bonus we also got a full taste of Maxico mistico cortaespantos neat. This is a coffee spirit with chili spice at 18% ABV. Its oiginal distilling contained too much caffeine, so was eventually adjusted to be lighter, which is the version we had today. The label was inspired by Mexican folklore, lucid dreaming cutting the cord between dream world and reality.
In closing, this was a great seminar with plenty of value between the educational learnings and neat pours, the specialty cocktails and its carefully curated food pairings. Probably my favourite out of all the Vancouver Cocktail Week events that I attended.
The Watson
3080 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3G5
(604) 559-5266
thewatson.ca
