What do electric cars and mezcal have in common?
Absolutely nothing.
This isn't a punchline. Tesla just released a 43% ABV mezcal from Oaxaca made from espadín and bicuishe agave, and is selling it for $500. Secondary retailers are already selling it for more than $1,099
The spirit is a follow-up to the $1,000 tequila Tesla released last year. Even the bottles for that, without any alcohol inside, are going for more than $100 on eBay right now in this world gone mad.
Does Elon Musk, the world's richest man, really need to be selling mezcal?
"Mezcal has become a commodity for many, without any regard for the earth, [or] for Indigenous people's land rights," says Odilia Romero, an Indigenous migrants rights advocate from Oaxaca and the executive director for CIELO. "Oaxaca is also having a water access issue. The gentrificación is increasing, forcing indigenous communities to migrate to the U.S.A. due to the extraction of its natural resources, such as mezcal like this one."
"When I first saw it, it still seemed fake and like something The Onion would put out," says Brett Adams, the spirits curator and education manager for Portland's Multnomah Whiskey Library, co-author of Raising the Bar, and the first guy to mention this controversial mezcal in L.A. TACO's Instagram feed.
"It feels super exploitative and numb to the 400-year-old tradition of mezcal, especially when the irony is that most mezcal is made without electricity," Adams says.
The mezcal, which douchebags can order on Tesla's website, is described as "delicate" and conversely, "spicy," "with a deep citrus and green apple nose that gives way to soft herbal notes with a delicate smokiness that lingers on the tongue. Finishes with notes of tuberose, jasmine and chamomile that soften into a balanced, velvety mouthfeel."
Beyond these romantic flavor notes, Tesla's website goes on to mention how a Tesla employee from Mexico City designed the bottle, committing a textbook perfect example of tokenism.
"The people who make mezcal don't have much power, so it's really cool when producers showcase and uplift the producer as many do, but using mezcal to promote Tesla is a weird power dynamic," Adams says.
"At this point, it’s just not cultural appropriation. It’s just a symbol of class status," says Bryant Orozco, an agave expert, bar consultant, and bartender who writes about Mexican and traditional fermented drinks. "I don't know how many of my ex-Beverly Hills clients had their own tequila [and] mezcal brands and would stroke their dick about it while begging me to get it in the bar. Over it."
"Just stop being a bitchcuishe and exploiting our culture," Orozco says, staring daggers at its 43% ABV when traditional mezcal is usually 50% ABV and over.
"At least bottle it at proof,” says Adams.
It will be also interesting to see how this company, owned by the presidential puppet-string puller in chief, will handle Donald Trump's threatened trade tariffs that are expected to threaten big-time Tequila and mezcal importers.
Could Elon possibly be willing to mess up one of his own companies? That'd be crazy, right?
