There is nothing to complain about here.
When Saurabh Abrol first came up with the restaurant concept MeximodHe knew setting big goals was worth trying, but breaking a world record was not his dream.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Abrol told The Post about the Metuchen, N.J. eatery. “It’s an amazing feeling to have achieved something that only one in a million restaurants achieves.”
In late July, the Mexicana and Tequila Bar in downtown Metuchen, population 15,000, Guinness World Records title With a collection of over 1,000 bottles – 1,033 to be exact – the restaurant has won the award for “the largest variety of agave spirits commercially available.”
But they never expected this to be an honor they would receive, especially since it comes so soon after the property opens in November 2023.
“Even before we opened, we knew we wanted to have the largest collection of tequila and mezcal in New Jersey, and it really went from there,” said Abrol, CEO and founder of Le Malt Hospitality Group, the restaurant’s parent company.
“We had always hoped for a large collection of bottles, but we never expected the Guinness Book of World Records to take notice, recognise it and give us this honour.”
Since Meximode broke the world record, people from all over the country have been traveling to this little-known town in Middlesex County, New Jersey, to get a taste of it.
“As soon as word got out, we had people coming from different states. We’ve had people from New York, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland,” Abrol said, adding that some customers came from as far away as Canada to visit Meximod with their families and see the entire library of tequilas.
To source the hard-to-find tequilas and mezcals, Abrol and his team (which includes Puerto Vallarta-born chef Antonio Carvalho and mixologist Carlos Ruiz) traveled to Mexico, reaching out to various local suppliers and distilleries to purchase the unique bottles.
“It was important to me to really understand what’s actually out there outside of what’s only available at your local liquor store or restaurant or bar,” he said.
Abrol is an aficionado of agave spirits himself and has sampled “hundreds of different” tequilas during his 25 years in the restaurant industry, and with the tequila category growing exponentially in the last few years, he wanted to offer his customers something different.
Luckily, all 1,033 bottles in the record-breaking collection are available to Meximod customers, with the cheapest bottle starting at $10 all the way up to a $4,000 bottle of tequila, the Clase Azul Tequila Día de Muertos limited edition bottle that the restaurant gets once a year.
What is the most expensive glass? Class Azul Ultra TequilaThe customer will be responsible for $575.
Meximod officials said they only get about two customers a month ordering the popular spirit, which is probably a good thing. Surface MugAccording to Azin, each batch of this tequila takes more than 11 years to produce.
According to Hard to Find WhiskyOnly 100 bottles of this tequila are released each year, making it not only a rare find in New Jersey, but one of the most premium tequilas in the world.
The road to the world record wasn’t an easy one for the Meximod team, and it wasn’t until February of this year that they realized they were on the verge of making history.
“The idea evolved to, ‘We’re doing everything we can to get tequila and mezcal from all over the world, especially Mexico. Why not try and break the world record?’
Abrol said it took about 10 to 11 months to assemble the collection of agave spirits, which ranges from small, family-run local brands to larger, well-known brands, and the process of officially becoming a Guinness World Record holder took about the same amount of time.
The Meximod team had to spend about six to eight months gathering video and photo evidence of their collection, and submitting a full list of their spirits to Guinness for cross-referencing. A few weeks later, they got confirmation that they’d won the title.
“Out of 1.1 million bars around the world, it’s amazing to bring home such a world record and take the No. 1 spot in Metuchen and the state of New Jersey,” TJ Pingitore, Le Malt’s senior vice president of growth and development, told the Post.
The 8,000-square-foot restaurant’s exterior is unassuming, but step inside and you’ll be greeted by a beautiful, colorful ambiance and a Day of the Dead mural. La Catrina Behind bars.
Meximodo’s spirits are categorized by brand, expression, region and flavor, and organized like a library within the restaurant.
Customers, Tequila, Mezcal, Sotol You can buy ready-made products or use Meximodo’sThe Tequila Bible” is the perfect combination, and patrons can choose one of five tequila flights, giving them “a great overview of the different flavors and different regions of Mexico.”
Abrol revealed that Meximod’s second Jersey City store is currently under construction and will be twice the size of the current store. This is great news for New Jersey residents. New Jersey Monthly magazine introduced Meximod in One of the best new restaurants worth trying in the state.
They also hope to expand outside the Garden State, specifically to New York, Florida and the West Coast.
Following the public celebration of winning the world record title, Meximod’s “hard-working team” held a private dinner to celebrate their success.
“Having an authentic Mexican restaurant and having a great tequila collection was the best thing that could happen,” Abrol said.
