How to Get Into Sotol

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

Tucked inside the Freehand Hotel is Bar Calico, and on a Friday night, I was surrounded by effortlessly chic patrons and expertly shaken cocktails. The bar is inlaid with thick, rich wood and centered on a big, succulent cactus. I felt fully enveloped in the culture and vibes of the American Southwest. But inside that cushy room lies a spirit with a sensual history. I’m talking about sotol. Sotol is aptly named after the sotol plant or desert spoon or Dasylirion cactus that it is distilled from. This might sound pretty straightforward, but it took a fraught and arduous journey for sotol to arrive from the Chihuahuan desert of Mexico into a flight of glasses at Bar Calico.

Sotol has been around for hundreds of years, so why haven’t you heard about it? Maybe because it's had a bad boy reputation. The Indigenous People of the Chihuahuan Desert started distilling the sotol plant into a spirit as early as 800 years ago. It was a popular libation in the US and Mexico, being cultivated so close to the Southwest US border. It was commonly smuggled into the United States during prohibition, and Pancho Villa, the Mexican revolutionary, even had a secret location in El Paso, where he kept a stash of sotol. For fifty years the spirit was outlawed in Mexico for its association with moonshine. In 1994, Sotol was finally legalized and in 2002 received its denomination of origin (DO). However, the right to distribute and cultivate sotol is still in contention in the US due to a lack of a contract between the US and Mexico that would honor Mexico’s DO. Sotol is even considered by distillers a more sustainable alternative to agave spirits, since the plant flowers multiple times a year compared to its agave counterpart which takes much longer to mature and harvest.

In short, sotol is finally legal and ready to mingle, but it may have slipped under your radar. Now the most important question: why drink sotol? It’s as flexible and essential as your favorite pair of jeans. Because of the resilient nature of the plant, Sotol has been cultivated in three areas of Northern Mexico, in the desert, the prairie, and the mountains. Each area produces its own unique flavor profile. That makes sotol much more adaptable as a spirit to mix into any of your favorite cocktails. A desert Sotol like Cardenxe Desierto is refreshing in a dry martini. A touch of Nocheluna sotol works wonders in a fruity cocktail for a minty smokey twist. Forget all preconceived notions that sotol is interchangeable with tequila and mezcal, although it would taste just as delicious in a margarita. Sotol is the palate expanding next step up. Darryl Chan, Bar Director at Portrait Bar tells Esquire,"for those that are fans of the ever popular agave based spirits, mezcal and tequila, I love including sotol on our bar program because it gives us a unique alternative option." Places like Bar Calico, Portrait Bar in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and Chicago’s Valedor are featuring sotol prominently in their drink selections, but if you keep your eyes open, you’ll find sotol popping up in cocktail menus all around you. People have been drinking sotol for 800 years, isn’t it about time you joined them?

Spread Out With Sotol

Now that you feel a bit more cozied up to sotol, which of the different flavor profiles or types should you start pouring into your happy hour drink? The varieties of sotol are abundant as varieties of tequila and mezcal. The terroir of your sotol defines its flavors. Some sotol is cultivated in the desert, which can give it spicy, smokey, leathery notes. The sotol that is found in the prairie between the mountains and the desert gives off more balance and contains more of a refreshing light quality than its desert counterparts. Sotol that’s grown in the mountains possesses minty notes, smelling of eucalyptus and flexible enough to be blended smoothly into the simplest cocktails. The classifications of sotol range from Plata, which is un-aged and distilled straight into the bottle, most reminiscent of moonshine. Then there's Reposado, which has been aged several months up to a year, and Añejo which is aged for longer than a year. We tapped sotol experts like Alejandro Dominguez, Head Bartender at Bar Calico, who curated their specialty flights for sotol tasting, and Darryl Chan of Portrait Bar, who embraces sotol on his menu of international cocktails, to give us recommendations for which bottles to keep in your home.

Nocheluna

A great entry point into sotol, Nocheluna embraces the herbaceous and smokey flavor of sotol. Yet it's mild enough to mix into your favorite tropical cocktail. Lenny Kravtiz collaborated Chihuahuan born experts and distillers to bring Nocheluna to market.

Cardenxa Sotol de la Sierra

Alejandro Dominguez keeps bottles of Cardenxa on the shelf at all times at Bar Calico. "Cardenxe offers three distinct expressions of Sotol that highlight the three regions that Sotol comes from; the desert, the mountains, and the prairies. Its versatility allows our guests to taste how different terroirs affect the taste and smell of this unique spirit," Dominguez says.

Los Magos Sotol

Los Magos Sotol is the perfect desert sotol to transport you to the earthy warm climate of Northern Mexico. Los Magos blends lighter notes of herbs with hints of honey and spices to make for an essential sotol experience.

Flor Del Desierto Sotol Blanco

If you're craving a rich and intense sotol experience, Flor Del Desierto is the right bottle for you. This selection has a strong peppery and smokey top notes, and a leathery earthy finish. Perfect for enjoying neat to get an undiluted sotol tasting.

Sotol Por Siempre

Produced by six generations of the Jacquez family of sotol distillers, Sotol Por Siempre reflects those decades of dedication in their product. Sotol Por Siempre boasts a rich minerality, intensified by notes of bell pepper, smokiness, and even white peach.

Make Sotol a Staple in Your Favorite Cocktail

It's simpler than you'd think to slip sotol into your favorite nightcap. The right sotol can blend seamlessly into a beloved cocktail recipe, or be the star of a new drink you can experiment with. Below are surprising and delicious ways to incorporate sotol into your bar cart at home.

Chihuahuan Martini

"Bar Calico's Chihuahuan Martini is a great choice as well since martini cocktails always highlight the base spirit by only slightly adding collaborative flavors into them," says Alejandro Dominguez. "In this case the Cardenxe Sotol de la Sierra is overall vegetal, crisp, and very eucalyptus like on the nose and so the aloe vera and triple sec liqueurs add cucumber and citrusy notes while giving the drink a bit of body for a delicious mouthfeel."

2.0 oz Cardenxe Sotol de la Sierra

1.0 oz Chareau Barspoon Triple sec, stirred together

Garnish: Orange Peel

Add all ingredients, except garnish, into a mixing glass with ice. Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

Margarita

It's a refreshing twist to take your favorite margarita recipe and add sotol instead of tequila. "This allows people to understand how Sotol interacts with other ingredients in a cocktail most people are familiar with," Dominguez says.

2 ounces sotol

3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed

3/4 ounce triple sec

Garnish: lime wheel and salted rim

Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled glass rimmed with salt (optional).

Mizu Fresca

Valedor, Chicago's sotol haven offers up the Mizu Fresca. The notoriously crushable cucumber margarita’s grown-up brother, this drink is fresh and plant-forward, designed to taste like you’re taking a bite straight out of a crisp cucumber. It uses Sotol instead of tequila, which lends a bright grassiness to the pour. Aloe liqueur and fresh cucumber juice drive this theme home, though a touch of yuzu juice and agave syrup (of course) offset the earthiness just a bit. Strong but sneaky, the team at Valedor says people often down 5-6 of these without blinking an eye.

2 oz Los Magos Sotol

1/2 oz Fresh Cucumber Juice

1/2 oz Agave Syrup

1/2 oz Yuzu Juice

1/4 oz Chareau Aloe Liqueur

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake, and strain into a chilled glass with crushed ice.

You Might Also Like

• Kid Cudi Is All Right

• 16 Best Shoe Organizers For Storing and Displaying Your Kicks