Q&A With the Capital's Ambassador of Agave Spirits, Ray Heng of Pebbles Courtyard

Besides pizza and burgers, another big culinary scene in our fair capital seems to be tacos – and burritos, and chips and salsa, and everything else of a Mexican cuisine bent. But how does one wash it all down? Where I come from – Phoenix, Arizona, aka Valley of the Sun – people most often turn to agua fresca or, for something with a bit more zing to it, tequila.

But this doesn't mean Jose Cuervo or Olmeca, nah, this means real 100 percent blue agave tequila without any additives or bullshit. Just quality stuff good for margaritas or sipping straight. And not just tequila either – but mezcal, sotol, and a great many others.

Wrapping one’s head around the array and complex character of agave spirits was a bit much then – especially when nursing hangovers from the stuff – and it is still, but the capital is becoming a great place to understand these spirits, thanks in part to folks like Ray Heng.

The owner of Wudaoying Mexican joint Pebbles Courtyard – which is celebrating its 12th anniversary this week – Ray has been in love with Mexican culture and cuisine since 2011 when he first visited the country. Since opening the restaurant, Ray honed his skills with a trip to Chicago where he trained at Kendall Culinary College under the tutelage of renowned chef Rick Bayless and has taken a deep dive into the world of agave spirits as well, not only offering tastings on the spirits but also selling them out of Pebbles and through his side project, TequilaRay.

To find out more about this chef’s love for Mexico and all things agave, we spoke with him recently following a (sold out) tasting with dinner menu at Pebbles on Dec 30.

Hey Ray! From what we can tell, you seem to be really passionate about the world of agave spirits and the role they play in Mexican cuisine. Can you tell us more about what got you hooked on agave?
Well, running a restaurant and my passion for everything Mexico, of course! We’ve always had tequila at Pebbles, but my obsession started two years ago when more premium mezcal and tequila brands entered China, especially “artisanal” mezcals. I remember in 2018 there were only a handful of mezcal brands in China (maybe four or five), and none of them were very good.

Since 2019, though, more high-quality mezcals started rolling in, and they came by the boatload. I got hooked and started researching and learning about the different varieties of agave and the process for making mezcal and other agave spirits. Right now I have over 200 bottles of spirits, including tequila, mezcal, racilla, bucanora and sotol.

Many of our readers probably know about tequila, and a few might even know mezcal, but what are all these other spirits you've mentioned? What makes them different from one another?
There’s a saying that goes “all tequilas are mezcal, but not all mezcals are tequila” which is along the same lines as saying “all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskies are bourbon.” The term mezcal literally means cooked agave in the Nahuatl language. It was the original process used to make agave spirits before distillation was introduced to Mexico. Prior to this, the alcohol made from cooked agave is referred to as pulque, which is a beverage that can still only be found in Mexico.

Tequila was pretty much the first commercialized agave spirit to break away from the traditional methods of making mezcal, which is more rustic, time-consuming, and always small batch! Tequila, on the other hand, is mass-produced, standardized, and generally has a smoother finish.

Other agave spirits out there include racilla, which can only be made in the state of Jalisco and has a truly unique character; bucanora, which can only be made in Sonora; and sotol, which is a non-agave spirit made from a plant called Dasylirion – aka desert spoon – which is then distilled using the mezcal making process. Sotol can only be made in the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango

Along with Pebbles, you also run a business called TequilaRay. What is this exactly and how did it start?
I like to think of TequilaRay as a one-stop-shop for all agave spirits and other Mexican products as well. It began thanks to an issue with an order from a distributor that never came through. I had ordered a few bottles of tequila that never arrived, but it turned out the distributor never even placed my order! It turned out this was because their main sales revenue mainly came from other spirits like whiskey, gin, rum, and vodka, so they didn’t care about tequila orders very much!

I channeled my anger and frustration into action, and started calling all the importers I knew to ask for distribution rights. Slowly, one after another, I had accumulated the 200 bottles I now have in my inventory, both for retail and wholesale to other restaurants, bars, and private customers. The business is partly conducted online as well.

Can you tell us a little about your current favorite agave spirits?
There are so many! This is like asking a parent to tell you what child is their favorite. I just did a special tasting for Pebbles featuring nine of my current favorite bottles, including four tequilas, four mezcals, and one racilla to mix it up! Really beautiful stuff!

Besides the recent Agave Tasting for Pebbles’ 12th Anniversary and the upcoming Taco Crawl, what other events do you have planned?
I plan on continuing agave tastings throughout the year. My plan is to collaborate with other restaurants in order to promote agave spirits more broadly. And since I have good relationships with all the Mexican restaurants in town – as well as other parts of China – I’ve always wanted to band together to do more to promote Mexican cuisine and culture. Since Covid hit we’ve had to scale back our plans, but we’ve since formulated a taco crawl, the first of which will be held later this month. If it’s successful, we’ll do more events like this and go from there!

You can catch Ray at TequilaRay's upcoming inagural Taco Crawl, slated to take place on Saturday, Jan 15 from 3pm onwards. Tickets are RMB 398 per person with only 30 available, so book fast! Scan the QR code in the poster to grab a seat.

READ: Snack Attack: Griddling Up Jianbing with Our Beijing x The Hutong

Images courtesy of Ray Heng