DRINKS: AGAVE SPIRITS

New Horizons

Newtown restaurant Comedor is breaking ground with an agave centric drinks list that goes beyond tequila.

WORDS Annabelle Cloros

PHOTOGRAPHY Dexter Kim

COMEDOR IS A restaurant that showcases Mexican techniques, rather than the dishes most associate with the cuisine. Chef Alejandro Huerta set out to do things a little differently at Comedor, which means no tacos and absolutely no palate-burning tequilas. The chef teamed up with Kieran Took to launch the Sydney venue, with the Mucho Group alumni creating a beverage list that is filled with boutique spirits made according to Mexican traditions.

Took speaks to Hospitality about introducing guests to spirits beyond tequila — meet raicilla, pechuga, and bacanora — supporting smallbatch distillers, and creating cocktails that can be enjoyed meal-round, not just pre- or post-food.

Comedor is located inside a heritage-listed warehouse in Newtown. The 100-seater opened its doors in July, bringing with it a new approach to Mexican cuisine many have yet to experience — at least on home soil.

Chef and Owner Alejandro Huerta has a decorated culinary CV, having worked in the kitchens of Pujol in Mexico City, Noma in Copenhagen, and more recently No.92 and El Primo Sanchez in Sydney. Comedor is the first solo project from the chef, who wasted no time in collaborating with agave enthusiast Kieran Took, who is the venue manager and person responsible for all things booze (and non-alc, too). “When I joined, the menu was already written so I was able to read through it all and experience it before you normally would,” he says. “I could make sure the drink experience from a wine and cocktail perspective was all very pairable with the food. It elevates the experience rather than jars with it, which is a rarity.”

The bar is stocked with a range of Mexican spirits from tequilas and mezcals to lesser-known raicillas, sotols, and bacanoras. Took works with a handful importers to purchase spirits that are mostly made by boutique distillers, who are in some cases 12th-generation producers.

The bottles at Comedor are unique, which means they’re not easy to access — especially in the current market of quantity over quality. “Some of the larger brands have come up with clever ways to make tequilas that technically follow the rules but take all the love and integrity out of the agave plant,” says Took. “Things like harvesting plants before they’re ready and using what are essentially giant pressure cookers to squeeze every bit of juice out of already-underdeveloped plants. [The juice] can technically be distilled, but has a sharp, aggressive taste.”

Took has visited several Mexican distilleries in person and sampled many agave products, having worked across the sector for years. He says the difference in mass-produced spirits over those made according to traditional methods is immediately noted by guests. “When you give them to people, they go, ‘Holy cow, this is delicious’,” says Took. “My favourite thing is saying, ‘This is what happens when the plant grows properly and has been harvested and cooked for the right amount of time’. These spirits have been made for thousands of years and each region does things their own way. I know it’s not practical for the whole world to be drinking spirits of this quality, but these spirits do the experience we are offering justice.”

Tequila and mezcal are prominent on Comedor’s menu, both in cocktail and standalone format, but there are many other options for guests to discover. Took names raicilla as one of his go-to selections, describing it as sitting halfway between tequila and mezcal. The agave-based spirit has an interesting history, one which revolves around provenance and taxation. “When tequila legally became tequila and the regions where you could make tequila were set, raicilla was just north of the border in Jalisco and was too high to be counted as tequila,” says Took.

Raicilla, which means ‘little root’ in Spanish, was illegal to produce a few centuries ago during prohibition. It was later legitimised, but ultimately heavily taxed. “There was a separation to call it a different name to avoid taxation,” says Took. “It has a fruity, clean, ginlike taste to it. It’s as close to gin as you can get while still being made from an agave plant.”

There are many variations of the spirit when it comes to flavour profile, with some raicillas verging into kombucha territory — meaning they a little funky — and others giving off aromas of fresh fruit. “There are 30 different species of agave that can be used to make different alcohols,” says Took. “You can line up eight different spirits from the same region and they can all taste completely different thanks to when and how they were harvested and the conditions the plant was grown in.”

Sotol is another spirit to look out for, but is technically not an agave-based product. The liquor was created during the colonial era by Spanish settlers who distilled plants that had already been pre-fermented by the Indigenous peoples of Chihuahua. Sotol is made from the desert spoon plant, which is part of the asparagus family. The plant has thinner leaves compared to agave and is identifiable by its spiny exterior. “It reminds me of pisco in terms of texture and flavour,” says Took. “It has a tendency to be grassy and earthy with notes of wheat-like acidity.”

The venom gives it a level of acidity and coconut milkiness, and people feel like a bad ass when they drink it.

–Kieran Took

Among more standard examples of sotol, Comodor stocks a product that has been popular with more adventurous guests — Flor del Desierto Veneno, a bourbon-barrel-aged sotol with rattlesnake venom. “The ageing process removes some of the acidity and sharpness, and any toxicity from the snake venom is eradicated as the alcohol sits at 90 per cent when the venom goes into the barrel,” says Took. “The venom gives it a level of acidity and coconut milkiness, and people feel like a bad ass when they drink it.”

The same producers of the rattlesnake venom also distill pechuga, a style of mezcal. Pechuga translates to ‘breast’ in Spanish and is essentially mezcal made with raw chicken and other harvested ingredients. It’s a product that dates back to the 1940s, with makers distilling the mezcal twice before a third distillation occurs — this is where the chicken and the additional ingredients enter the scene.

Fruits, nuts, spices, and herbs are added to the still while a piece of raw poultry is hung above it. The boiling liquid produces vapours that cook the protein, and is said to impart body and fullness into the spirit. “The mezcal absorbs the flavours from the stock, and it has a meaty taste to it,” says Took. “It’s heavy and reminds you of chicken broth.”

While pechuga is traditionally made with cockerel or chicken, the protein options have since expanded, covering anything from jamon to snake meat and even kangaroo, with local New South Wales makers Black Snake creating their own take on the product.

Bacanora is the final Mexican spirit Took recommends guests trial. It hails from Sonora and can only be made with Agave angustifolia. A lengthy prohibition meant bacanora was illegal to produce from 1915, with many bacanoreros making the spirit with haphazard pieces of equipment. The liquor is produced in a similar way to other mezcals, which requires the agave to be roasted, fermented, and then distilled.

“It is slightly savoury — I could almost liken it to unaged whiskey,” says Took. “It is slightly heavier with more of a burn and it is really delicious with spicy food.”

Guests can order tastings of Comedor’s agave spirit collection, which are all served at room temperature in agave-sipping glasses. “They look like shot glasses, but they are small cups with a wide rim, so you get lots of air in there,” says Took.

For those who would rather enjoy spirits in cocktails, the options are plentiful. Took has designed several versions of the crowd-pleasing Margarita including a spicy option dubbed the Fuego. “I wanted to make a more refined drink, not just something sour with some heat,” he says. The venue manager has teamed Tromba Blanco with not just lime juice, but mandarin juice, mandarin syrup, habañero, and fermented yellow chilli.

The Mezcal Colada has been another popular order and is a riff on the classic piña colada. “We add quite a lot of honey to give it earthiness and that binds well with Mal Bien mezcal, No Do tequila, coconut, and honeycomb on top,” says Took.

Took admits there is an “element of the unknown” when it comes to the Comedor experience, which means dining and drinking at the Newtown restaurant is ultimately an education piece in Mexican spirits as well as ingredients and techniques. “People unfortunately have a clear picture of what they think Mexican food is,” he says. “We deliberately tried to avoid being a Mexican restaurant from day one as we didn’t want people to associate us with Cali-Mex or Tex-Mex. We say we are more about Mexican techniques and utilising different flavours.”

The opening has ultimately provided a platform for Took, Huerta, and the wider Comedor team to challenge diner preconceptions about Mexican spirits and introduce them to options that are a cut above the rest. “Learning should be enjoyable and fun,” says Took. “It’s nice to finally be able to show it off my way and allow people to experience these products.”

• Mandarin juice features in a spicy Margarita

• Agave plants are used to make many different spirits

• Sotol is gin-like

• Bacanora is traditionally distilled with poultry breast