Quiquiriqui Espadin Mezcal

After visiting Oaxaca in 2011 and falling head over heels for Mezcal, English hospitality veteran, Melanie Symonds, established her now legendary pop-up mezcaleria in East London. Within 12 months, Symonds had returned to Oaxaca to establish her own boutique-sized, Mezcal label, QuiQuiRiQui. Pronounced Kee-Kee-Ree-Kee, the name is Spanish for the cockerel’s call: “cock-a-doodle-doo”.

Symonds partnered directly with two families who had been forging single estate (Palenque) Mezcal in their communities for generations. The Joven is made in Santiago Matatlán (Mezcal’s unofficial capital) by the sixth generation of the Méndez family. Don Zósimo was the Master Mezcalero behind QQRQ’s first batches; today the harvesting is the responsibility of his grandson, Carlos.