- Wait, this one is 22 years old?
(speaks foreign language)
(laughs) (upbeat music)
(speaks foreign language)
- So, the other day I was on the internet
and I found this place in Torrance called Madre
that sells over 300 different types of Mezcal.
- I'm more of a rum drinker.
(speaks foreign language)
I'll drink that anytime of the day.
- I like gin and soda.
It's light, you're good.
I feel like if I drink Mezcal, a lot of it,
I'm not even going to know that I'm in America.
- Julissa is a little wary about it but you know what?
Mezcal has the power to change attitudes.
(upbeat music)
So we walk through the doors and the first thing I notice
is that Madre is a beautiful restaurant.
- I saw all these bottles.
I was like...
(speaks foreign language)
- There was a portrait of La Jefa,
which is the owner's Mom and just that was so stunning.
It like showed you that it was full of passion,
full of wanting people to know the culture
and sharing that love.
- What makes this place unique?
- One it's family owned.
Second, it provides more than 325 different Mezcals.
- 325?
(speaks foreign language)
(laughs)
(speaks foreign language)
- You're not big enough to try all of that.
(speaks foreign language) (laughs)
- Well, Mezcal I will say is the soul of Mexico.
The key element to differentiate Mezcal
from any other distillate will be the agave and
90 percent of the agave in the entire America are in Mexico
and the majority of agave is in Oaxaca.
- So Oaxaca equals Mezcal.
- Exactly, by nature.
(speaks foreign language)
- Well, tequila is (speaks foreign language)
(upbeat music)
- Espadin is one of the most common agaves.
Up on the map.
So if you've ever tried Mezcal before
most likely it's an Espadin.
The other thing that you gotta look at
it's the master distiller.
They gotta disclose who the master distiller is.
So it says (speaks foreign language) and
it has his signature and it has how many bottles
of Espadin he produced.
(speaks foreign language)
If it doesn't have any of that information,
you're just getting a brand.
- You can smell the Mezcal. (breathes deeply)
From over here, like I'm not even close to it.
- It's crazy.
I'm so nervous. (speaks foreign language)
- Wow.
- Ooh, this is strong. - Wooooo.
Whoa.
- Yo, this is really good.
- Wow.
This is a trip.
- I feel like my whole chest is on fire.
- You can tell the smokiness and
afterwards is just like, I don't know, like some citrusy.
Something citrusy opened up my nose.
- For me, I taste these, and it doesn't kick me in the face.
It hugs me.
It's very romantic.
And that's what it is.
- And that's the spirit of the Mezcal.
It's telling you I love you.
(sneaky music)
- That had this little plate and
it had like a handful of grasshoppers.
(speaks foreign language)
- Gadiel, move that (bleep) away from me.
(laughs)
I am not eating that.
- I had already had chapulines, so I was good.
But I knew Gadiel was going to be skeptical,
and I knew Julissa was going to flip out.
- Who the hell wants to eat grasshoppers, not me.
(speaks foreign language)
- Mexico, just because I love you guys
and you guys love me I'm going to try this.
(speaks foreign language)
- Bravo. (claps)
- Surprisingly, it was good.
It was really damn good.
(speaks foreign language)
- It's not bad.
Like a kid kicking and screaming I ate it.
It was actually not that bad.
- Lesson learned.
(bleep) try (bleep). (laughs)
(upbeat music)
- It smells sweet, super sweet.
- This smells like a (speaks foreign language), yo.
- That the (speaks foreign language).
- That's what it is (speaks foreign language)
- Alright. (speaks foreign language)
- Wow.
- That one did not go down hard.
So this one, I tasted all in my pallette,
versus the other ones that I felt here.
(speaks foreign language)
- Generally, when I taste something like this,
tequila or vodka, any of the hard liquors.
You feel it and it hits you in the face and
this is going down so smooth.
It's like water.
It's sweet water from (speaks foreign language) himself.
(speaks foreign language)
(upbeat music)
- [Norberto] Real Minero.
(speaks foreign language)
- I felt this one right at the tip of my tongue.
- Pepper, a lot of pepper.
- It's spicy, yo.
- Minerals.
- That tastes (mumbles).
- And the clay pot.
- Yeah, the clay yo.
- Gadiel is over here drunk.
- A little bit.
I'm a little (bleep) up.
(laughs)
I don't know how y'all keep having conversations.
(jazzy music)
We started trying the Mezcal.
They tasting good and after the third one,
I'm feeling buzzed, yo.
Bring it on bro.
- And this is only a for certain master distiller.
- I couldn't even keep my head up.
I was playing it off.
- [Ivan] After getting a couple of shots,
three or four...
- You couldn't tell.
Am I right?
This shit is good.
(upbeat music)
- Ooh.
(speaks foreign language)
That one was very tough on me.
(glasses clink)
(speaks foreign language)
- That was delicious.
(speaks foreign language)
You think it was strong?
- Yes, what, I think that might have
just got me drunk right now.
- I've been there girl.
- There's this thing... - I've been drunk y'all.
Y'all been drinking like it's nothing,
and I've been (bleep) up.
(laughs)
- [Ivan] So what are you guys' final thoughts?
- I'm gonna get a little bit deep and just say
that what we have right now is art, it's history,
it's pride, it's passion and more importantly it's love.
- I fell in love with Mezcal.
I became a big fan of Mezcal.
I wanna learn some more.
I wanna try some more.
Like, to be honest with you,
I want to take all those bottles home.
- Alright, so I have a confession and
my confession is that I actually like Mezcal.
- I think going into this we were all just about drinking,
but I think we all learned something from this.
We all learned about the beauty of our vast Latino culture.
I know Gadiel and Julissa really learned something new
about Oaxacan culture,
about Mexican culture.
And, I don't know, to me,
I thought that was the most beautiful thing.
(speaks foreign language)
(upbeat music)