Guides / We tried every mezcal at Trader Joe's. Here's what we found
We tried every mezcal at Trader Joe's. Here's what we found
Trader Joe's stocks six mezcals. We've reviewed all of them. Here's what's worth taking home and what's filling shelf space.
By The Editors · · 5 min read
Trader Joe's mezcal selection is small and uneven. The store carries six bottles in current rotation – Mestiza Negra, Del Maguey Vida Clásico, Ojo de Tigre Joven, Madre Espadín, Espada Pequeña (the TJ house brand), and Ilegal Reposado. We've scored all six. The spread runs from 4.5/5 to 1.5/5, which is unusually wide for a single retailer's selection, and the bottle-to-price math only really works on one of them.
What follows is the order we'd buy them in, with the bottles we wouldn't buy at the bottom.
The picks
Mestiza Negra Espadín – $20
Mestiza Negra Espadin – 4.5/5 · Mestiza Negra · $20
A 45% espadín from Santiago Matatlán, made by Doña Juana. Pit-oven–cooked, copper-still–distilled. The profile runs softer than most Matatlán – butter, cream, peach, a late tobacco – and the proof reads clean rather than cut. The catalog score is 4.5/5; the community on mezcalreviews.com lands at 4.0/5 on the liquid alone. The cheapest of the six TJ mezcals at $20, and at 45% ABV the highest-proof of the lineup.
Del Maguey Vida Clásico – $38
Del Maguey VIDA Clásico – 3.0/5 · Del Maguey Mezcal · $38
The bartender's default. Single-village espadín from San Luis del Río at 42% ABV. Catalog score 3.0/5 – clean, mid-bodied, a forgiving cocktail mezcal that doesn't argue. If you mostly want a bottle for margaritas and aren't in a hurry to learn what mezcal can be, Vida is the safer pick on the TJ shelf at twice the Mestiza's price.
Ojo de Tigre Joven – $34
Ojo de Tigre Joven – 3.0/5 · Ojo de Tigre Mezcal · $34
An espadín-tobalá blend at 37% ABV, owned by Casa Lumbre and most associated with actor Diego Luna. 3.0/5 in our catalog. The 37% bottling proof is the limiting factor – tobalá at that ABV reads as a marketing word more than a flavor, and the espadín base does the work the label gives the tobalá credit for. Drinkable, not interesting.
Madre Espadín – $39
Madre Espadin – 2.5/5 · Madre Mezcal · $39
Madre Mezcal's entry bottle, scoring 2.5/5. Higher-tier Madre releases (the clay-pot ensamble, the ancestral) sit in our 3.5-4 range, but the espadín at this price-point is the version of the brand that exists for distribution. Skip in favor of the Mestiza for less money or wait for one of Madre's serious bottles at a different retailer.
Espada Pequeña – $22 (TJ house brand)
Espada Pequeña Espadin – 1.5/5 · Benevá Mezcal · $22
TJ's house-label espadín at 40% ABV. Scored 1.5/5. Functional in the way an unsalted cracker is functional. The producer credit is opaque, the proof is at the commercial floor, and the only argument for it is price – except the bottle next to it (Mestiza, $20) is two dollars cheaper and three full points higher. There is no scenario where this is the right pick.
Ilegal Reposado – $70
Ilegal Reposado – 1.5/5 · Ilegal Mezcal · $70
Lowest score for any bottle above $50 in our catalog: 1.5/5. Reposado mezcal is generally a marketing decision more than a production one (extended barrel aging fights what makes mezcal mezcal), and Ilegal's reposado is what the marketing-decision version of mezcal tastes like. The brand's joven scores higher; the reposado at $70 is the worst price-to-quality bottle on the TJ shelf.
What this list shows: TJ's mezcal range is shaped less by curation than by what brands paid to be on the shelf. The exception is Mestiza Negra, which exists as the value pick by accident of pricing rather than by design – the store didn't curate around it, the bottle just happens to be there. Whether it stays at $20 long-term depends on distribution math more than production cost.
If the store has Mestiza, that's the bottle. If it doesn't, walk to a Total Wine or specialty shop for Banhez Espadín-Barril at $35 – the next bottle worth recommending and the standard step up from the under-$30 tier. None of the other TJ bottles is worth its price tag relative to what's a few miles down the road.
Frequently asked
What mezcals does Trader Joe's sell?
Six bottles in current rotation: Mestiza Negra Espadín ($20), Del Maguey Vida Clásico ($38), Ojo de Tigre Joven ($34), Madre Espadín ($39), Espada Pequeña ($22, the TJ house brand), and Ilegal Reposado ($70).
What's the best mezcal at Trader Joe's?
Mestiza Negra Espadín at $20 – the highest score of any bottle on the TJ shelf at 4.5/5. 45% ABV (the highest of the six TJ bottles), named maestra (Doña Juana), pit-oven–cooked, copper-still–distilled.
Is the Trader Joe's house-brand mezcal good?
Espada Pequeña, the TJ house brand, scores 1.5/5 in our catalog – among the lowest scores in the under-$30 band. At $22 it's two dollars more than Mestiza Negra and three full points lower on our 5-agave rubric. Skip it.
Is Ilegal Reposado worth $70?
By our rubric, no. The reposado lands at 1.5/5 – the worst price-to-quality bottle on the TJ shelf. Reposado mezcal is generally a marketing decision more than a production one, and Ilegal's version doesn't escape that.