The Mix Makes the Hot 100

The Mix Culls an Unexpected Accolade; Plus Margarita News You Can Use.

Photo credit: Eric Medsker.

A little news. A London-based organization called Drinks International has, since 2019, published a list called the Bar World 100. It’s a list of what their voters consider the most influential bar professionals (bartenders, bar owners, brand ambassadors, consultants, historians, journalists, etc.) in the global bar community. Like the 50 Best Bars list—also created by Drinks International—it has quickly become a highly anticipated tallying of the state of the drinks industry.

Drinks journalists haven’t had a huge presence on the list, though colleagues such as Camper English, François Monti, Emma Janzen and David Wondrich have made regular appearances. I landed on the 2020 list, published during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic. I haven’t appeared since until this year’s list, which was announced today, when I came in at No. 82. (Being a pop-music history geek, I can’t help but think of the list at the Billboard Hot 100, which means I may have been “bubbling under” last year. Whether my ranking this year comes “with a bullet,” I cannot say.)

A lot has changed for me since 2020. But the main change, in terms of my work, has been my and Mary Kate’s creation and maintaining of this newsletter. If you had told me in 2020 I would be devoting much of my writings and energy to a Substack newsletter, I would have said, “What’s Substack?”

But I love what’s changed. My favorite hours of the week are the ones I spend researching and composing posts for The Mix. As far as I can tell, I’m only one of two people on the Bar World 100 list who publishes a drinks-related Substack newsletter. (The other is Monti. I recommend you subscribe.) That is good news for the future of spirits and cocktail and bar coverage on this platform, where one is allowed to publish free of advertising, sponsorship and editorial encumbrances.

We share his honor with all monthly, annual and Bar Regular subscribers of The Mix because, without you, we simply could not do this. Thank you!

Also, watch this space for some exciting news in the days to come. The Mix is growing. And we think you’ll like what’s coming next.

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In other cocktail media news, my latest “Bar Tab” column in the Wall Street Journal dropped yesterday. The subject was that warm weather favorite, the Margarita. To talk about the world’s favorite cocktail (by numbers of sales, at least), I journeyed down to Philadelphia to revisit Tequilas, a landmark Mexican restaurant and bar just off Rittenhouse Square. Its owner, David Suro-Piñera, has been an agave evangelist longer than many of us have been of drinking age.

Suro-Piñera does more than just school the public on the virtues of good Tequila, customer by customer, drink by drink. He has his own line of agave spirits, Siembre Spirits, and in 2024 won a James Beard Award for his manifesto, Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals, written with Gary Paul Nabhan. I recommend you read it. It is the most passionate, dry-eyed and truthful book about the state of agave spirits today that is out there.

Tequilas suffered a fire two years ago. It only reopened in March. That catastrophe has hardly slowed Suro-Piñera’s pace. To my eyes, the space looked better than ever; the beautiful murals in the reception area were untouched.

What’s more, Suro-Piñera has opened a second restaurant, La Jefe, in the back of Tequilas, with a separate entrance on Latimer Street. It is hipper, edgier and features the cuisine of Suro-Piñera’s native Guatemala. The cocktail list, meanwhile, under the watchful eye of David’s son Dan Suro, is more experimental, with lots of fermentation and other techniques in play. Their version of the Margarita, called the Agave, is well worth the journey. At the bar at Tequilas, meanwhile, you won’t find a purer interpretation of the Margarita in Philadelphia.

David Suro-Piñera, Dan Suro, and myself at Tequilas. (Yes, I’m drinking a Martini. Sue me.)

Philadelphia is getting a lot of attention these days for its burgeoning and inventive dining seen. There are more than a hundred new openings scheduled for this year. La Jefe is one of the best and most interesting. It also functions as an all-day cafe, so you can visit at any time.

But do not sleep on Tequilas just because it’s been around for thirty years. The Suro family deserves your attention and reservations for their endless striving to bring Philadelphia the best—as well as more socially aware—food and drink.

Mezcal Margarita

Phil Ward, Mayahuel, New York City, 2009

This recipe comes from Mayahuel, which, when it opened, was the first important agave cocktail bar in New York City. The drinking world was just discovering mezcal then. You can find this and other agave cocktail recipes in my 2021 book Mezcal and Tequila Cocktails.

• 2 ounces Del Maguey Vida mezcal

• 1 ounce Cointreau

• 3/4 ounce lime juice

• Salt to rim the glass

• Lime wedge for garnish

Half-rim a chilled rocks glass with salt and fill with a few large ice cubes. Combine the remaining ingredients, except the garnish, in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, about 15 seconds. Strain over the ice into the prepared rocks glass. Garnish with the lime wedge.