Adam F.
Yelp
Totally one of my favorite places in Mexico City now. Stopped here at the end of a long day of doing (and drinking) stuff, so I only got a chance to try a couple things, but what I did try was excellent, and it's just such a *cool* place. It is also tiny. When I arrived, around 9 PM on a Saturday, they said they were totally full and it'd be about a 15 minute wait - but then when they noticed there were only two of us, they changed their mind and let us sit right in the entrance, which was actually kind of a great place to sit, because you got a full view of one of the coolest things about the place, the fact that their mezcal isn't commercially bottled, it arrives in numbered vats, which are in full view up over the bar, and basically means you could say they have 20-something mezcals "on tap".) I was thinking the pictures posted at the front of the list of pictures on yelp were of decorative bottles, but nope - those bottles all have mezcal in them, and are hanging in the front. :)
Once I'd figured out the menu (a page of cocktails, then the rest is a numbered list of the mezcals they have, just labeled by who made it), I started with a cocktail, the Hoja Santa, for about 8 bucks US. It arrived pretty much immediately after ordering, and was totally delicious. Tasted like a mezcal margarita, but a really excellently-prepared one that was full of delicious, definitely high quality mezcal, and a lot of basil flavor, and garnished with a nice bit of fresh basil on top. I'd totally get that again if I were back in the area (though I'd get others, first, because duh, I would've liked to try everything. Sadly, I was pacing myself. Next time! If it hasn't gotten too popular by then.)
At this point, I was ready to try some mezcal. I wasn't quite how it worked, so I started asking, and then they went and got the apparently one guy who speaks a good amount of English as opposed to "a little bit", which was very much appreciated - hopefully that guy is always there ;). So how it works is, you describe what you're looking for, then they tell you which numbers they think you'll like. How it *also* works, or at least how it worked for us, is if you indicate you're here because you want to find a mezcal you want to bring home, which was absolutely true, and I wasn't expecting this, but it was very much appreciated... I said that and they gave me a few tastes (much smaller than a whole pour of each, but that was perfect, since my goal was "taste", not "get drunk off mezcal".)
So I got to try 3 of their smokiest mezcals (one wasn't quite smoky enough for me, one had a weird almost cheesy side-flavor, but one was just completely gorgeous.) So I got a proper pour of that one to savor right then, for 80 pesos, and it was just as fantastic as I remembered, so I brought a bottle home - 500ml for 780 pesos (a little pricey, but worth it - it was a really highly quality mezcal, and one you can't get anywhere else except here or straight from the source!). They poured it into an unlabeled 500ml jar, then labeled it on the spot. If I lived in Mexico City, this would be my *place* (well, one of them).
Oh, I also got to try a free sip (*a* sip, obviously, but still super cool of them) of one of their splurgier things - a mezcal that had then been aged like an aged rum. It really did taste exactly like that - like good mezcal that has then been treated like good aged rum. It was delicious, but a bit too splurgey. If I were rich, though, I would totally have bought a bottle (heck, if I were rich, I would've just gone down the list, tried everything, then probably ended up with half a dozen bottles. ;))
And yes, the name is accurate - we walked right by, twice, before figuring out where it was (it doesn't help that it's right next door to another bar, that *does* have a name out in front.)