Need to know something about tequila or mezcal? Eric's your man.
Eric Giardina is Mosto’s newest team member and without a doubt its biggest agave nerd. Before he came to us, he spent two years as the ambassador for Fortaleza tequila. He’s the kind of guy that walks around with a rustic ceramic copita in his pocket just in case someone’s pouring the mezcal. If he could, he would sing about mezcal like this guy.
Though, who’s to say he can’t?
You’ll have to find out tomorrow night. March 26, from 7 to 9 pm, Eric will be leading a seminar about the very special, limited edition Del Maguey Espadin mezcal. The cost is $60 for the tasting and talk; $25 of this will be donated to TIP (Tequila Interchange Project), a non-profit consumer advocacy group for tequila.
But before you sign up for the class (to do so, email him at egiardina@sbcglobal.net), I wanted you to know Eric just a tiny bit more. So I asked him a few burning questions.
What’s your first memory of tequila?
Oklahoma, 7th grade. Cuervo and coronas.
What percentage of people still think of tequila as something that you shoot with salt and lime?
Fifty-fifty.
What and where was your tequila a-ha moment?
I had a 100 percent agave margarita at Mad in Roseville. It was made with lime, agave, Zapopan tequila. It changed my life.
Are you a blanco, reposado or añejo guy?
Blanco—that’s how tequila comes out of the still.
If you have to drink a agave-spirit based cocktail, what’s your poison?
Coffee and mezcal.
If you had to be a tequila which one would you be and why?
I’d be Tobala—little and wild.
What are you most fired up about right now?
The entire Del Maguey line of mezcal. Ron [Cooper] is my hero.
What are you going to put in your jar on the ceiling of Mosto?
A copita.
