Review: Tesla Mezcal

Reviewing Tesla Mezcal comes with so much baggage I need one of those luggage carts to get it all out of here. I guess we can start with the answers to some basic questions.

Yes, this is Tesla-branded mezcal. Yes, it is real mezcal (it’s made by Nosotros, which is a legit operation). Yes, it is actually part of the Tesla Motors car company — which is probably the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing, seeing as automakers generally have a poor view of their association with booze, NASCAR notwithstanding.

Yes, that’s the real bottle (glass, painted black). And yes, it only stays upright thanks to a small stand that the bottom of the lighting bolt rests on.

Yes, it’s got a $450 MSRP, but $900 or more is common, if you can find it. Two limited editions have dropped so far, and given the prices these command, I have to assume more are on the way.

I’m not going to get into politics on this review — if you refuse to have anything with this product because of your opinion about Elon Musk, I totally understand that — but, you know, I just had to taste this to answer one more burning question: Is the mezcal actually any good?

Tesla Mezcal Review

Made from espadin and bicuishe agave (a different recipe than Nosotros’ own product), this is a joven mezcal with no aging information supplied. However, it does have the slightest of pale yellow color to it, and elements of vanilla and caramel on the nose at least suggest a short amount of some type of aging, but who knows?

I do like the nose: Buttery and creamy with notes of brown banana, then sharper citrus — lime leaf, grapefruit — and light touches of white pepper and nutmeg. Smoky it is decidedly not: More savory aromas run more to turned earth and wet underbrush, but these are quite fleeting.

The palate does not much change the game, offering a quite creamy texture that is laden with coconut cream, brown butter, mashed bananas, and vanilla. It comes across a lot like a decadent dessert, a tres leches cake, perhaps, moving into fruitier territory as it sits on the palate. Pineapple upside-down cake, featuring grilled pineapple, is not a bad analogue. Notes of grilled peaches, toasted coconut, and a gentle layer of smoke (at last) inform the finish.

I’ll be honest: I really, really like this mezcal. In fact, it’s one of the best I’ve had in recent memory — crisp, versatile, complex, and crushable all at once.

That said, it comes in a bottle shaped like a lightning bolt and costs $450 in the best possible case. And I’ve never paid that kind of money for anything liquid.

So… yeah.

86 proof. No official NOM listed on bottle. Reviewed: Lot 20/05/21.

A- / $450

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