3 must-know Mexican spirits worth a spot on your bar cart

This story first appeared on Food52, an online community that gives you everything you need for a happier kitchen and home – that means tested recipes, a shop full of beautiful products, a cooking hotline, and everything in between! Though lesser known in the U.S., pox, sotol, and raicilla are three delicious Mexican spirits worth paying more attention to. Cesar Estrada, the Food & Beverage Director at the Thompson Zihuatanejo, a 5-star resort in southwest Mexico, guides guests through a tastings of Mexican spirits, including pox, sotol, and raicilla. Sotol is distilled from a shrub called dasylirion wheeleri, more commonly known as "sotol" in Spanish or "desert spoon" in English, that is native to the deserts of northern Mexico. Led by Master Sotolier José "Chito" Fernandez Flores, Flor Del Desierto's Sotol Sierra is made from 18-to 20-year-old sotol plants that are wild-harvested in the state of Chihuahua, then cut by hand and processed.