San Pedrito Licorería — Restaurant in Puebla

I really wanted to like Licoria San Pedrito. A mezcal producing state like Puebla deserves a great mezcal bar. Unfortunately, the Puebla location refills their premium mezcal bottles with cheap mezcal. During a recent visit, my girlfriend and I caught them red handed doing a ‘mezcal switcheroo.’

We ordered Don Mateo Mezcal from Michoacán. We've met Don Mateo’s producer, Emilio Vieyra, who is a sixth generation mezcalero and have tried countless batches of his mezcal. We've traveled to this region of Michoacán several times to meet with its mezcal producers and know the flavor profiles of the agaves there.

Whatever was inside the bottle wasn’t Don Mateo Mezcal and it certainly wasn’t from Michoacan.

When we politely asked the bartender if it was really Don Mateo Mezcal inside the bottle I saw him pour, he got quiet and things got awkward.

Finally, upon opening a new, sealed bottle and tasting the difference himself, the bartender admitted to us that the mezcal he gave us was from a refilled bottle.

Worse yet, after my girlfriend talked with the owner, it become obvious it's an unethical operation from the top down to deceive the patrons of this so-called mezcal bar.

Instead of trying to get to the bottom of why an inferior mezcal was in a premium bottle, the owner proceeded to manspain to my girlfriend—a respected food and drinks writer and small batch mezcal industry insider —about how mezcal can change in the bottle.

Even after my girlfriend explained that we are pretty well versed in Michoacán's mezcal, agave profiles and glass aging, he comically doubled down, implying that we didn’t know what we were talking about and that we were just trying to ‘discredit’ Licoria San Pedrito.

While it’s unethical—not to mention probably illegal—for a bar to refill bottles with inferior alcohol, what bothers me the most is the affront to the traditions, culture and people involved in making mezcal.

Making mezcal is laborious work. When a mezcalera or mezcalero puts their name on their bottle, the result is generations of knowledge and traditions in liquid form.

What Licoria San Pedrito Puebla is doing is not only scandalous, it's disrespectful to Mexico's mezcal making community. Those who value the traditions and culture surrounding mezcal should know this about Licoria San Pedrito Puebla.

Luckily, Puebla has two well-edited mezcal programs with bartenders who are very knowledgeable—Mezcalería Miel de Agave and La Mezcalli. At both these establishments, the liquid inside the bottle matched the label.

If you must go to Licoria San Pedrito, stick with beer. The cocktails are mediocre at best and the best mezcal bottles in the place are actually unscrupulously refilled with...

I really can't recommend this place. We arrived at 9:30pm (when their closing time on google was 11pm) and were told they were closing. This was really confusing as the entire outdoor seating area was full and every table, except for one bench, inside was full. There were still people eating and drinks being poured at the bar. We asked if we could sit at the free bench and were told it was not in use due to social distancing. I fully support COVID prevention measures, but it seems really odd that only this one bench would be blocked for social distancing when literally every other space was full with clients. We really felt unwelcome. If you'd like a great cocktail bar with friendly staff check...

A nice bar with a good vibe. The drinks and snacks were good and the servers were attentive. We enjoyed the music and the outdoors seating. Inside was a bit crowded and it was easier to hold a conversation outside. Our only complaint was that they were not flexible to substitute Tequilla for Mezcal in the Mezcal Pepino cocktail. I respect their right, but this is a bar and adding a shot of tequila rather than a shot of mezcal is so simple. It’s unfortunate as we did not order a second round. Other than that we...