Why Our Ceramic Mezcal Bottle Takes Time: Mocel's New 375ml
The Ceramic Bottle Behind Mocel Mezcal
From the beginning, we wanted Mocel’s bottle to reflect the hard work and beauty that goes into making mezcal. Ceramic felt right because, like our mezcal, it's natural and handmade. No two bottles are exactly alike, and that's the beauty of craftsmanship, slow fermentation, and slow distillation.
Why Is the Mocel Bottle So Tall?
Since ceramic is much thicker than glass, that reduces the space inside. In order to hold a full 750ml, the ceramic bottle has to be bigger. That's why Mocel's ceramic bottle stands taller than a typical glass 750ml.
Why 375ml?
Because of you. You told us you loved the 750ml but wanted something smaller, easy to carry in your bag and a better fit for most home bars. So we made it.
How Mocel’s Ceramic Mezcal Bottle Is Made.
Why it may have taken so long to get this new smaller bottle? Because a ceramic bottle can't be rushed. It starts with a master model, sculpted by hand by a modelista. Every curve and every millimeter matters, because clay shrinks as it dries and fires, often 10–15%. The master has to be made larger than the final bottle so that, after shrinking, it can hold 375ml. Getting that right takes several rounds of testing and adjusting.
From the master, a case mold (the "mother mold") is made. That mold is then used to produce the plaster working molds for production.
Then comes the slip casting. Liquid clay, called slip, is poured into each plaster mold. The plaster absorbs the water, and a clay wall forms inside. The extra slip is poured out, and the bottle is left to firm up before it's carefully removed. Each piece is then trimmed and smoothed by hand, dried slowly, and fired in the kiln. In Mocel's case, it's fired three times.
Plaster molds also wear out after a limited number of pours, so they have to be remade regularly.
The whole process is slow and handmade, much like mezcal itself. We'd rather wait and get it right than rush it.