Oaxaca’s mezcalerías sit within a few blocks of each other in the Centro, open from mid-afternoon, and pour by the copita from lists that run to several hundred bottles. Ten are listed below with address, hours, what to order and a price marker; two more, Cuish and Quiote, are a short walk out of the core and worth it. Hours are from each venue’s site or its current Tripadvisor or Yelp listing, linked on every entry.
One update first: Mezcaloteca, the appointment-only tasting room at Reforma 506, closed on 15 September 2026 to move and will announce a new address in early October (Mezcaloteca). It is not in the list below until it reopens.
The list
1. In Situ Mezcalería
Vicente Guerrero 413, Centro. Monday–Saturday 2–11 pm; reservations by phone or email (In Situ). Founded by writer Ulises Torrentera and editor Sandra Ortiz Brena, with a collection its owners call the largest in Mexico (50 Best Discovery); older listings still give the previous room at Morelos 511, so use the Guerrero address. Order a wild-agave flight and let the staff pick; the house Tepextate sells at MXN 2,000 a bottle in the shop next to the bar, and the clay copita is MXN 100. The upper end of the city’s price scale, and the best-stocked room in it.
2. Los Amantes
Ignacio Allende 107, Centro. Wednesday–Sunday 5–11 pm, price band $$–$$$ (Tripadvisor). A single tiny room with frequent live guitar (Mezcalistas, September 2026), run by the Los Amantes brand from Tlacolula, whose line runs Espadín, Tobalá, Barril, Cirial and an ensamble (Los Amantes). Order the Tobalá next to the Espadín to taste the gap.
3. Mezcalería Cuish
Díaz Ordaz 712, Centro, a short walk south of the markets. Open daily until 10 pm (Tripadvisor). Cuish is a brand as much as a bar, built on wild Karwinskii agaves, with a tasting room and shop downstairs and art shows and music on the terrace (AFAR). Reviewers single out the Tobalá and the Madrecuishe and the fact that both cost less here than in the centre. Small snacks come with the pours.
4. Mezcalogía
García Vigil 509, Centro. Daily from 4 pm to midnight (Tripadvisor). The bar of the Casa Cortés family, owners of El Jolgorio and Nuestra Soledad, with a serious cocktail list (Mezcalistas). Order a guided flight; one reviewer counted nine mezcals with a clear explanation of each. In the shops El Jolgorio Tobalá is MXN 2,145 a bottle (Casa Cortés), which puts a copita here in context.
5. Sabina Sabe
5 de Mayo 209, Centro. Wednesday–Monday 1 pm–midnight, closed Tuesday (Yelp). Named for the Mazatec healer María Sabina, several rooms, mezcal on every wall and a bar team that mixes it with Oaxacan ingredients (50 Best Discovery). Order a mezcal cocktail and a plate of food; this is the place to bring someone who does not want neat spirits.
6. Selva
Macedonio Alcalá 403, interior 6, Centro, in the Los Danzantes building. No. 43 on North America’s 50 Best Bars 2026 (50 Best); reservations via OpenTable. Beverage director Alexandra Purcaru builds each drink around a market, plant or community; the signature Miahuatlán mixes mezcal with sherry, amaro, artichoke liqueur and shiitake. Cocktail prices, not copita prices.
7. Mezcalillera
Murguía 403A, corner of Benito Juárez, Centro. Monday–Saturday 11:30 am–9 pm, Sunday 12:30–8 pm (Yelp). A shop that pours: nearly every artisanal brand sold in the city, with tastes of most of them, open since 2014. Go in the afternoon, taste four, walk out with the bottle. The cheapest way in this list to compare producers side by side.
8. La Mezcalerita
Macedonio Alcalá 706, Centro. Daily 2 pm–1 am (Tripadvisor). Over 300 mezcals plus pulque, craft beer and Mexican wine (Yelp); the late licence makes it the natural last stop. Order the house Espadín and a pulque.
9. El Cortijo La Mezcalería
5 de Mayo 411, Centro. Daily 3–10 pm; the same brand runs a Cocktail Room at M. Abasolo 305, daily 6 pm–midnight (El Cortijo). A producer’s own tasting bar with guided flights across its range: Joven Clásico, Espadín Capón, Mexicano, Tobalá and Madrecuixe. Order the Espadín Capón against the Joven: same plant, one left to concentrate sugar after its flower stalk was cut.
10. Quiote Mezcalería
José López Alavez 1423, Barrio Xochimilco, north of the Centro. Monday–Friday 1:30–7 pm, weekends by reservation (Mezcalistas). More than 60 producers and 100 expressions in a neighbourhood tasting room. Daytime hours make it the pre-dinner stop before an evening on Alcalá.
If you would rather have the flight explained than build it yourself, The Best Mezcal Tasting (2 h, from $36, 4.8★ from 20 reviews, groups of 10) pours six-plus mezcals off 20 de Noviembre and ends with a cocktail; the Candlelight Mezcal Tasting at Constitución 504 (2 h, from $87) pours five wild agaves and sends you home with a clay copita.
Book a mezcal experience
The Best Mezcal Tasting
From $40 $36 per person
2 hours · English, Spanish · Up to 10 · Free cancellation
City tasting with six or more mezcals, snacks, a cocktail and audiovisual production explanations. Listed maximum 10 guests; adults 18+.
Candlelight Mezcal Tasting with Wild Agaves
From $87 per person
2 hours · English, Spanish · Free cancellation
Five wild-agave mezcals in a candlelit restored house, with water, accompaniments and a gift. The provider is FUEGO SILVESTRE EXPERIENCE.
How an evening in a mezcalería works
You sit, you are handed a list organised by agave or by producer, and you order by the copita. A pour is small and comes with water, orange slices and sal de gusano, sometimes a plate of chapulines. Nobody orders a shot.
Order two contrasting glasses rather than one: an Espadín and a Tobalá, or the same agave from two villages. Bartenders in every bar above will build a three-glass flight if you tell them what you like.
Sip, then bite orange dipped in the salt, then sip again (Masienda). Three copitas of 48% mezcal is a full evening.
Etiquette
- Tip 10–15%, as in any Oaxaca restaurant.
- Photograph the label of anything you like; artisanal batches change, and you will want the lote number.
- Bottles are for sale at In Situ, Cuish, Mezcalillera and El Cortijo; the bar price is the shop price plus service.
- Los Amantes runs live guitar; Tuesday is the quiet night, with Sabina Sabe closed and Los Amantes shut Monday and Tuesday.
A three-stop evening on foot
Start at Mezcalillera (Murguía 403A) around 5 pm to taste and buy, move on to Los Amantes (Allende 107), which opens at 5, or to Mezcalogía (García Vigil 509), then finish at La Mezcalerita (Alcalá 706), open until 1 am. All three legs are inside the Centro; only Cuish and Quiote are outside it.
For what the words on the list mean, read Mezcal 101; for which bottle to take home, best mezcal brands and types; for a guided session with a host, tastings and classes in Oaxaca City.