Mezcal Spotlight: Gixi Mezcalería

Camie Fenton
3 sept
3 Min. de lectura

By Jonathan Lockwood

I get that some folks think I’m the mezcal guy in San Miguel de Allende, and I appreciate it. But that does not mean I know it all locally. Last November, when my wife Cecilia and I were walking around centro, we stumbled onto Gixi Mezcalería on the ground floor of the same building as Selina on Cuna de Allende.

My first thought was, “Apparently San Miguel issues mezcal licenses without consulting the mezcal guy.” I was scandalized for about a second and a half. Then we did the only sensible thing and walked in for a sip.

Time was short that night, but I returned last month and met the owner, Paola Contreras of CDMX. Paola is an industrial engineer who began working with the Pata Negra restaurant group a decade ago. Around that time a maestro mezcalero from Oaxaca came in to teach the staff. That is when Paola got bitten by the chapulín. She still remembers a lush pour of Alipús San Andrés as one of her early favorites.

Ten years later, she and her business partner Julio opened Gixi (pronounced YEEK-see). Why choose San Miguel? Paola, like me and most people worth their sal de gusano, loves Oaxaca. She lived there for five years and even considered opening the bar there, but she also loved San Miguel and felt a similar spirit here. The idea became simple: bring a small piece of Oaxaca to San Miguel.

There is a printed mezcal menu, but Paola warns it will never be perfectly current. When she finds something new and special, it goes behind the bar. Lately she has been enchanted by a Papalometl bottling under the label El Viejo Manuelón. She also poured me a Cuish release made from an agave I had never heard of, Belató. And because San Miguel is a small town with long agave arms, my friend Cosme Hernández from Oaxaca, who works with the Convite brand, has befriended her and is making a few house mezcales for Gixi.

Beyond bottles, Paola is determined to bring maestros to town. She has already hosted María del Carmen of Tehuacán, Puebla, for a special event. Maestra María will soon be producing a limited mezcal made in harmony with the moon and distilled only during the full moon. Keep an eye out for its arrival and for other special editions.

In October Paola plans to bring the young French mezcalero Julián Huart from Durango for another event. She is also brainstorming a way to partner with other local mezcalerías and host several maestros in one focused weekend. If she pulls it off, it will be quite a night or two.

Gixi’s food points true north toward Oaxaca: tlayudas with tasajo, picaditas, and tamales de mole de Oaxaca. The bar program pays equal attention, with a tight list of classic copitas and a slate of mezcal cocktails. There are frequent bar takeovers by local mixologists, which Paola sees as a way to widen the circle without losing the point.

Step inside and you get color and candlelight rather than nightclub glare. Papel picado blooms overhead in the courtyard, the back bar glows warm red, and there are often a few tables where you can line up a flight. It feels like a place made for listening, to each other and to what’s in the glass.

The word “Gixi” in the Otomí language refers to the water of the agave’s pencas. Even as a self described Mezcal Maniac, that was new to me. It fits the mission. Paola wants Gixi to be a place where agave education feels natural. The goal is not just a pretty patio where you toss back booze, but a room where you learn what makes mezcal sing, how to taste it in besitos, and how to tell the difference between a hastily made industrial product and the elegant small batch spirit still, somehow, available today.

I just now followed Gixi Mezcalería on Facebook and Instagram because I do not want to miss their first anniversary, October 10^th through 12^th. If a maestro or two appears, I plan to be there. No, new mezcal bars do not need my permission, but they will always have my attention, especially when they respect the people, the plants, and the places that make the spirit possible.