A new event celebrating Mexican spirits is taking place in Australia next month, BarLifeUK takes a look at what is going on.
BarLifeUK are big fans of Tequila. We are also big fans of Australia (apart from their deadly animals, cricket team, prime minister and Stu Hudson) so when we heard one of our favourite Sydney-siders, Phil Bayly, was combining those two things we had to have a closer look.
For those unfamiliar with Phil, he was responsible for some of our more epic hangovers during our time in Sydney as owner of Cafe Pacifico, which sadly shut its doors in 2013. However Phil’s love and passion for Tequila and all things Mexican couldn’t stay hidden for long.
Now, we are well aware that Australia is a long old slog for a lot of our readers but anyone who loves bars should visit it (and the rest of Australia) at some point and when you see what Phil has in store you may just find you can resist no longer.
Taking place at various venues across the city on March 22nd – 23rd the event is about networking and sharing love and passion for producers, growers, bartenders, spirit professionals and enthusiasts.
The list of presenters is a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of all things Mexican booze related with the likes of Tequila Ambassadors Julio Bermejo & Tomas Estes; bartender, writer and fellow Pacifico drinker Naren Young; Mayahuel owner Phil Ward and a host of Tequila & Mezcal producers and Mexican bar owners. A full line-up can be found here.
The talks these experts from around the world are giving are equally impressive and far too numerous to list in their entirety here, however these are some of our favourites: Beyond the Margarita; Mezcal Mixology; History of Sotol; Artisanal Mezcals the Single Malt of Agave; Mezcal – Distillation PHd; So how do Mexicans really drink their Tequila? and Anatomy of the Agave. For the full list head here.
There is also an exhibition of some of the best Mexico has to offer on the 22nd and of course with Phil in charge of proceedings there are not one, not even two but three after parties in two days. Good to see his sense of a good old knees up hasn’t changed!
So if that has wetted your whistle then you can find out more from the Agave Love website. If you do make it out there say Hola to Phil from us, he’s easy to spot, he’ll be The Cat in the Hat.