Review of Mezcal y Molé in Oaxaca

When planning our trip to Oaxaca City we ran across a place called Mezcal y Molé in the Jalatlaco neighborhood. They do a mezcal and molé tasting that looked like it would be right up our alley. The experience certainly lived up to our expectations!

To start with, Jalatlaco is a very welcoming neighborhood with a lot of street art and murals as well as a variety of shops and cafes with a sort of bohemian feel. The door of Mezcal y Molé is always locked as they only serve those with reservations. A knock gets a quick response.

When we got to Oaxaca we quickly discovered that a lot of people thicken their molé with bread rather than corn and with one of us being celiac that was no bueno. It is disappointing to not be able to taste all the molés on offer in this city. We went by and spoke with the owners to ask if their molés were going to be safe for us and they said they were all thickened with corn. So we tried to make a reservation for the next day. The reservations need to be made online because they are prepaid and something went wrong with this process.

We arrived the next day at our supposed reservation time only to find that they had no record of a reservation. They worked out a way to accommodate us for which we are very grateful. This experience tied together everything we had discovered about mezcal and molé in a nice, neat package.

The experience begins with a welcome drink that included jamaica (hibiscus) and mezcal among other things that have since been forgotten. We were seated at a table set with an elaborate placemat that had tasting notes for both the 7 mezcals we would be tasting and also the 7 molés that would be paired with them. This is a very informative document and well worth taking home.

With each pairing we are invited to sample the mezcal first, then sample the molé. The next part is surprisingly intriguing: Take a large spoonful of molé, hold it in your mouth and then add just a little of the mezcal. Mixing these together like this is an elevation of the flavors of both. The sommelier has done an excellent job with these pairings which creates a greater appreciation of both the mezcal and the molé.

We were glad that we had already tasted a lot of molés here and done our mezcal educational tour with Alvin Starkman as we had a good understanding as a background for this tasting. That is not necessary of course, this tasting could serve as well as a first introduction to mezcal and molé. Our hostess was very good with her explanations and we had the tasting notes to reinforce everything.

What is presented as the ‘7 Molés Of Oaxaca’ is different everywhere you go. In our research of molés over the last several years we have seen a variety of molés included in or excluded from these lists. Before coming to Oaxaca City we have never seen a list that includes Almendrado or Estafado. Needless to say, we will be learning how to make both of these when we return home. The 7 molés of Mezcal y Molé and their mezcal pairings are:

Molé Verde —- Espadín
Molé Amarillo —- Espadín con Chocolate
Molé Almendrado —- Cuixe
Molé Estofado —- Madrecuixe
Molé Manchamanteles —-Mexicano
Molé Coloradito —- Tepeztate
Molé Negro —- Papalometl

This was a really good experience and we highly recommend it. Several other guests here at Casa Ollin have gone and they all really liked it as well. You do need to know that this is a tasting and does not comprise a full meal. You’ll want to have dinner plans afterward, although Kelly didn’t really feel hungry after the tasting.