I cannot say enough about how much I (we) enjoyed our day and appreciate Alvin's dedication to the craft of mezcal production and his willingness to share his knowledge with us. We were a group of five (two of which had been with Alvin a few years back) who specifically came to Oaxaca to eat the great food and sample a variety of mezcals to take home. Even though I had a decent understanding of the mezcal process before the outing with Alvin, my traveling companions much more, we all had the opportunity to improve our knowledge and broaden our palettes.
Alvin, and as we found through the day, his associate Randall, have deep understanding and are able to make mezcals approachable to visitors of all experience levels. This would be a great tour if you are just learning about mezcal. For us it was fantastic to get into the subtleties and variations of ingredients, techniques, and equipment.
At the three palenques we visited, we sampled 36 very different mezcals. We ended up purchasing 15 bottles to bring home--only limited by the space in our bags. Otherwise, I fear we would have brought much more home.
I have participated in a lot of educational/cultural/artisanal tours around the globe. This is one of the very best I have ever been on--anywhere. If you have an interest in mezcal, if you would like to go explore a bit of the Oaxaca countryside, if you would like to help support the local artisans and get them good price for their work, then Alvin's tour should be top of your list. read more