Michelin-Starred Mexican Chef Launches Mezcal Brand That Blends ‘Eyes’ and ‘Hands’

(Photo: Manojo Mezcal)

On Thursday, acclaimed Mexican chef Enrique Olvera expanded his multi-hyphenate restaurant and TV empire into the world of liquor.

His latest venture, dubbed Manojo Mezcal, is a 100% Espadin agave spirit produced by husband and wife team Joel Velasco and Felicitas Hernández. Underneath the hood, the mezcal boasts many of the “good old fashioned” techniques that you’ll find touted on websites like ours. Agaves were crushed with a horse-pulled tahona, fermented in open-air vats and distilled with locally sourced river water.

It’s got big shoes to fill.

Olvera’s flagship restaurant, Mexico City-based Pujol, has earned two Michelin stars and currently ranks thirty-third on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Olvera has also made appearances on Netflix shows including “Chef’s Table,” “Ugly Delicious” and “Somebody Feed Phil.” Whether you’re dining at one of his locations in New York City or Cabo San Lucas, his cuisine typically spotlights traditional Mexcian ingredients with a heavy-handed focus on corn.

His mezcal is bottled at 43% ABV and is said to boast nuanced notes of agave, pear, green herbs and “innate minerality.” It’s now available nationwide at a suggested retail price of $49.99.

“Manojo Mezcal is meant to be enjoyed with friends, a celebration of life and our rich cultural heritage,” Olvera remarked in a news release. “We’re incredibly proud to introduce our first product, an Espadín, that’s versatile and easy to drink.”

The brand’s name is a portmanteau of “mano,” Spanish for hand, and “ojo,” which translates to eye. The fusion is on full display in the bottle’s label, which depicts a red eyeball squeezed between a thumb and a pointer finger.  Incidentally, manojo also translates to “a bunch,” a slogan that the team interprets as a gesture toward abundance and good times.

Olvera joins a growing number of chefs opting to pair in-house agave spirits with fine dining.

In mid-October, “Top Chef” season six winner Michael Voltaggio got into the game with a duo of tattoo-inspired tequilas dubbed Marcado 28. Looking back about a year, we had the opportunity to chat with Chicago’s Chef John des Rosiers, founder of the criminally underrated Tequila Cambio. Similar to Manojo, Cambio took a back-to-basics approach to its craft, punctuated by a high-proof recipe and bespoke barrel aging process that produced some fantastic juice.

In other words, we’d much rather see a chef-backed agave spirits craze than a celebrity-backed one. Even if, in this case, they’re one and the same.