The Jewish Link published a feature on November 13, 2026 reporting that kosher consumers remain well behind the general spirits market's decade-long turn toward mezcal, according to a kosher mixologist and a Jewish-identified Master Mezcalier the outlet interviewed.
Yechiel Chovav, who also goes by Wolgel and holds Mexico's Master Mezcalier credential, and Avi Pusateri, a kosher mixologist who runs Jazz Age Cocktails, told the publication that observant households have largely stuck with familiar tequila while the broader trade spent years building mezcal into a connoisseur category some compare to single malt scotch.
What separates mezcal from tequila
Chovav's starting point for readers is that tequila sits inside a larger family rather than standing apart from it. He told the outlet that tequila is a subcategory of mezcal, with mezcal covering the full range of spirits distilled from cooked agave across a disputed count of Mexican states, somewhere between nine and 13 depending on the source, and from dozens of agave species rather than the single blue agave tequila requires.
Mexican rules split mezcal into three labeled categories. Plain mezcal permits modern equipment including autoclaves and diffusers. Mezcal artesanal requires traditional ovens but still allows mechanical shredders and copper stills. A third tier, mezcal ancestral, is the strictest: Chovav said a bottle carrying that label contains nothing beyond agave and water, with no mechanical shredding or industrial distillation involved. Separate from those production tiers, the category also includes abocado mezcal, which has ingredients introduced after distillation, and bottles labeled destilado con, which are distilled alongside other ingredients.
The event behind the story
The reporting centers on a tasting event rather than a transaction. Pusateri organized what the outlet described as the first Kosher Agave Fest in August 2026 at Chabad of West Hempstead, where more than 25 brands were poured, a taco bar fed attendees, and Chovav led an optional guided tasting. Pusateri separately toured José Cuervo's agave fields and its La Rojeña distillery in 2025, an experience the piece cites as grounding his preference for traditionally produced spirits, though he told the outlet he weighs disclosure from a producer above production method alone.
Chovav's path into agave came through wine rather than spirits first. A separate Jewish Times profile describes him as a winemaker and sommelier who spent several years at Agur Winery in Israel's Judean Hills before adding the Master Mezcalier certification, a credential issued through a Mexico City based program recognized by Mexican education authorities.
What kosher certification requires for agave spirits
The certification picture differs by spirit. Pusateri told the outlet that some kosher authorities will accept unflavored blanco tequila without a hashgacha if it is 100% agave and approved by Mexico's tequila regulatory council, but that mezcal is treated differently: those same authorities require reliable third-party certification for mezcal specifically. He noted that certifiers rarely travel to the remote villages where much artisanal mezcal is made, which leaves many small producers uncertified by default rather than by any finding about their bottles. For shoppers seeking options certified for Passover, the piece names Amaras, which the outlet says produces several certified agave varieties, and Montelobos, cited as making a certified pechuga style. Chovav also pointed to Patrón Silver as a tequila that discloses using nothing beyond agave in fermentation and distillation, calling it a solid choice for kosher buyers.
Where the single malt comparison already circulates
The framing in the headline did not originate with this story. Trade coverage has floated the mezcal-as-scotch parallel for years: a 2020 piece on Mezcal Reviews argued the category was not literally the new scotch but was increasingly treated with the same reverence, and a 2024 report in The Grocer quoted a Pernod Ricard executive telling retailers that single malt drinkers understand mezcal once they try it, pointing to shared smokiness as the hook. Market research cited this year put mezcal's premium-and-above share growing roughly 2.5 times faster than tequila's equivalent tier, with single-village, single-agave bottlings commanding 80 to 150 dollars at retail. None of that research speaks to the kosher market specifically; the Jewish Link piece is the first to apply the comparison to observant drinkers rather than the trade at large.
What this means
The gap this story describes is about awareness and certification logistics more than liquid quality. Patrón Silver, the bottle Chovav singles out, carries a Tequila Watch Score of 64 of 95 in this publication's database, a figure that reflects the four-pillar method and should not be read as commentary on kashrut, which this desk does not assess.