Oaxaca has changed drastically over the last decade. An influx of swish hotels and experimental cocktail spots (some of which have crept onto North America’s 50 Best Bars list) has modernised the city and brought its gastronomic scene into sharp focus. Still, the magic of Oaxaca is rooted in its traditions – something the community’s younger generation is keen to highlight.
‘My generation has really tried to lean into local foods, locally-sourced elements, things to celebrate national pride. Whether that’s a cuisine or a drink, or even indigenous languages, this generation is really trying to bring them back,’ says Anna Bruce, who runs mezcal-focused tours and experiences within Oaxaca City and the wider State through her business Rambling Spirits.
After building a career as a photojournalist in the UK, in 2013 Bruce received a scholarship from the Mexican Foreign Ministry to visit Oaxaca and document mezcal’s rise. She never left. More than a decade later, the proud Oaxaqueña has published numerous books on the people behind the spirit, including her latest project, Tequila, Mezcal and More, which was shortlisted for the André Simon Food & Drink Book Awards 2025.
As the heartland of mezcal and its production, Oaxaca’s identity is inextricably linked to the spirit. Bruce has witnessed a growing dedication to championing local when it comes to the city’s drinks scene. ‘It’s a very creatively-strong community here, and the growth of mezcal has been intertwined with that. My parents’ generation would drink Johnnie Walker at a nice wedding or Bacardi or Tequila. Not this generation. It’s much more homegrown, and there’s a lot of pride, which is great to see.’
So we had to ask Bruce for her take on the best places to drink mezcal and other Mexican spirits in Oaxaca. As well as taco spots and mezcalerias, her recommendations span food pairings, rooftop spots and hyper-local cantinas in the city.
Read on to discover the best of Oaxaca’s drinks scene, as recommended by a local expert.
Which bar has the best views of the city?
There’s a beautiful plaza in front of the Santo Domingo church in the north where there are a lot of calendas, or traditional parades. Hotel Los Amantes probably has the best view. It’s run by a mezcal brand and started as a little pop-up mezcaleria, then a hotel and then a rooftop. It’s definitely quite bougie, but for a special occasion or a date it’s a beautiful place to go and have a cocktail or a mezcal.
Which Oaxaca restaurant is the best at pairing mezcal with food?
There are so many different agave varieties and producers from different regions, so it’s not hard to find something niche and special. You often see chefs collaborating with mezcaleros to create limited-edition batches. Los Danzantes started as a restaurant in Mexico City and then developed a brand of mezcal, before starting another restaurant down here in the ’90s, so [it was] pretty early doors to be so invested in mezcal. The restaurant is absolutely stunning and, of course, because they have their own range of mezcals they can do a pairing menu for you. The one I’ve tried was with their sister brand, Alipús Mezcal. Their mezcals are mostly Espadín-based and different flavours come through based on the terroir and slight nuances in production, each one slightly sweeter or spicier or more mineral.
Where should we go to drink mezcal alongside tacos?
La Popular is certainly somewhere I would go to have some carnitas and a Margarita, and then move on to straight mezcals. It’s owned by an art dealer in Oaxaca so there’s always contemporary art on the walls. It has two big doors on either side, so for the parades that I mentioned it’s a good place to sit without being dragged into the calendas, which can happen if you’re just out and about.
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Which is the best hotel for mezcal lovers?
When I’m picking up clients for mezcal tours, we get a lot of people from Grana B&B. Grana does a lot with local artisans, people that are very engaged with the Oaxacan creative community. I think mezcal is intertwined with that. Of course, you can look at mezcal as part of the drinks industry, but you can also look at it as an art form. And so, I think Grana is a great place to go and learn about it.
Where do you go for standout mezcal cocktails?
Mezcalería In Situ started as a very mezcal-centric bar. It was almost like a library: you would go in and say ‘Okay, I like Scotch’, or ‘botanicals’, or ‘smoke’ and they would go through their cards from different regions and agave varieties and curate a tasting for you. In Situ Bodega is newer, bringing cocktails into the experience and playing with that.
My husband, Brooks Bailey, does event work here in Oaxaca, so he and David [Castillo, In Situ’s head bartender] team up and make great mezcal cocktails. My favourite is like a Margarita, but using red bell peppers as a base instead of lime, which stops it being so bright and citrus-heavy and gives it more earthiness.
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Which bar has the best Tequila range?
Tequila is a complicated one here because of the relationship with Tequila and mezcal. There’s a history of mezcal being suppressed by ‘Big Tequila’, so it’s not easy to sell Tequila to people here. Sabina Sabe is great not just for Tequila but for the broadest range of different spirits across the board, with Mexican gins, Mexican rums and Mexican whiskies, as well as good options for Tequila like El Tequileño and Ocho.
Where do you head to drink like a local?
The cantina culture perhaps gets overlooked by tourists. My bubble for five or six years was going to the cantinas and drinking with the mezcal producers themselves out in their pueblos. It’s not necessarily good mezcal, but it’s still an experience, and if you’re there for long enough people relax around you and invite you to have a drink or send one your way.
Fito’s Cantina is a good mix if you’re a tourist and you want to go a little behind the scenes, not just to the cocktail bars. Fito’s son is now interested in the contemporary dialogue among bartenders, whereas his dad is still the dude at the bar who’s chatting with everyone and saying ‘Come sit with my friends over here’, which was what it was like when I first came to Oaxaca – you show up somewhere and the owner throws you to the wolves and hopes that you can handle it.
