About Randall Stockton
“I enjoy sharing my love of Oaxaca and mezcal with travelers to the region, both international and domestic visitors alike. The families we visit on our mezcal excursions are beautiful, kind, hard-working people. Whenever I see them it brings a smile to my face …. and to the faces of the clients we welcome into their fascinating worlds of mezcal, agave and sometimes pulque.” (Randall Stockton, 2018)
Randall Stockton holds a social sciences degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Randall was a mezcal aficionado prior to relocating permanently to Oaxaca, having first visited the city in 2003. By that time he was already an integral part of the Austin bar scene. In 2001 he inaugurated his flagship venue Beerland. At one point he owned nine Austin bars and restaurants, some with a significant offering of cocktails featuring the agave spirit. For the past dozen years his King Bee Lounge has been renowned for its broad selection of quality mezcal:
King Bee made it a goal to have the most complete and best collection of mezcal available in any Austin bar. (The Austin Chronicle, 2015)
King Bee has been touted as having some of the rarest mezcals in the city. “Somehow they manage to find the smallest, most obscure batches...you’ll get the best mezcal in Austin.” (Mezcal Reviews, 2016)
Randall regularly explores the central valleys of Oaxaca and beyond, continually seeking out different artisanal (and ancestral) family owned and operated mezcal distilleries (palenques), so as to ensure unique and diverse experiences for clients of Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca. The Starkman/Stockton team are firm believers in ethical mezcal tourism, as their clients come to learn and appreciate in the course of a day’s learning, photographing, interacting, imbibing, and buying if so inclined.
Randall is federally licensed by the government of Mexico to teach both novices and industry professionals about the culture of mezcal and pre-Hispanic beverages such as pulque. He assists prospective exporters of the spirit with their business plans. Randall also trains restaurant and bar owners, waiters and bartenders to help them better promote and sell mezcal in and for the benefit of their establishments.
Randall Stockton holds a social sciences degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Randall was a mezcal aficionado prior to relocating permanently to Oaxaca, having first visited the city in 2003. By that time he was already an integral part of the Austin bar scene. In 2001 he inaugurated his flagship venue Beerland. At one point he owned nine Austin bars and restaurants, some with a significant offering of cocktails featuring the agave spirit. For the past dozen years his King Bee Lounge has been renowned for its broad selection of quality mezcal:
King Bee made it a goal to have the most complete and best collection of mezcal available in any Austin bar. (The Austin Chronicle, 2015)
King Bee has been touted as having some of the rarest mezcals in the city. “Somehow they manage to find the smallest, most obscure batches...you’ll get the best mezcal in Austin.” (Mezcal Reviews, 2016)
Randall regularly explores the central valleys of Oaxaca and beyond, continually seeking out different artisanal (and ancestral) family owned and operated mezcal distilleries (palenques), so as to ensure unique and diverse experiences for clients of Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca. The Starkman/Stockton team are firm believers in ethical mezcal tourism, as their clients come to learn and appreciate in the course of a day’s learning, photographing, interacting, imbibing, and buying if so inclined.
Randall is federally licensed by the government of Mexico to teach both novices and industry professionals about the culture of mezcal and pre-Hispanic beverages such as pulque. He assists prospective exporters of the spirit with their business plans. Randall also trains restaurant and bar owners, waiters and bartenders to help them better promote and sell mezcal in and for the benefit of their establishments.
For more information, contact us at mezcaleducationaltours-at-hotmail-dot-com
