Thirty years ago, if you ordered mezcal in a bar you’d be met with a bemused look from a bartender. Nowadays, the spirit is soaring in popularity thanks to the diversity of its production and flavour.
There are two key ways to judge whether a mezcal is for you or not — the variety of the agave used, and the way it is produced.
Mezcal's origins ✓
How to pick mezcal by agave variety ✓
Mezcal’s production and how to categorise it ✓
How to drink it ✓
Jake O'Brien Murphy has spent his entire professional career in hospitality with experience ranging from neighbourhood bars to some of the most critically recognised venues in the world, including the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel, Three Sheets and Callooh Callay. Jake sits on the judging panel for the International Spirits Challenge where he is responsible for the entire spectrum of world vodka.
Mezcal is indigenous to Mexico, and comes with specific governing rules of production. It can only be made in these Mexican states: Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Michoacán, Guerrero, Durango, Tamaulipas, Puebla, Zacatecas and Guanajuato.
The word mezcal is derived from the ancient Aztec language, Nahuatl. It translates to ‘cooked agave’, as the spirit is produced from the pineapple-shaped hearts of the agave plant. These hearts are known as piñas.
Mezcal must be distilled and bottled within the palenque (the fancy word for a mezcal distillery) to ensure the quality of the end product, whilst the ABV must sit between 36% and 55%.
Around fifty varieties of agave are used to produce mezcal and each specific plant is a rugged individualist, which is the fundamental reason why mezcal tastes unlike any other spirit.
Find your ideal mezcal match by brushing up on each variety and their flavour profiles, which reach far beyond that stereotypical ‘smoky’ tasting note associated with mezcal.
Species: Agave angustifolia
Varieties: Espadín
The most ubiquitous agave used in mezcal production and for good reason too. Espadín strikes a balance between earthy sweetness and savoury herbaceousness. It takes around five years to mature and is cultivated throughout Oaxaca, Michoacán, Durango and Puebla.
Drinkers with a sharp palate may notice the similarities between tequila and mezcal made from Espadín. That’s because the blue weber agave used in tequila production is a species of angustifolia.
We Recommend:
- The Lost Explorer Espadín
- Dangerous Don Mandarina Mezcal
Species: Agave potatorum
Varieties: Tobalá
Amongst those in the know, it is said “only god plants tobalá”. It’s an extraordinary little agave that grows in the shade, like truffles, and takes fifteen years to fully mature. Found in Southern Mexico tobalá is unable to reproduce asexually and relies on wild birds and bats to spread its seeds.
Tobalá makes mezcal with resinous, woody personalities and touches of fruit with a sweet finish that lasts about as long as a sunset.
Species: Agave karwinskii
Varieties: Cuishe, Baicuishe, Madrecuishe, Barril, Tobaziche, Verde
Karwinskii encompasses a large number of varietals which are commonly found in Oaxaca and Puebla. It’s easy to see why these varieties are the ugly ducklings of the family with their spiky clusters of pencas (leaves), that puncture the air atop a cumbersome, woody stalk.
These mezcals are often harvested wild and incorporate those fibrous stalks into the cooking and fermentation process, producing mezcals with wine-like tannins and mineral-rich, chalky flavour profiles.
Species: Agave rhodacantha
Varieties: Mexicano
More delicate in body and flavour than its more robust cousins, rhodacantha is the New Romantic, synth-playing agave; typified by eyeliner, floral notes and a fleeting honey-nectar finish. It’s grown in the foothills of the highlands and takes around twelve years to mature.
Species: Agave americana
Varieties: Arroqueño
Another rare variety sought by the most intrepid drinkers. Arroqueño is a visually arresting agave that takes up to 25 years to reach full maturity, with leaves that dominate the landscape jutting as wide as 10 feet in every direction and easily dwarfing a thirsty adult.
Considering its heft, it presents a flavour paradox, producing ripe, green, floral mezcals.
Until now we've focused on single-variety mezcals. However, historically, blended mezcals, known as ensambles, were the practical choice for most mezcaleros (those who distil mezcal).
Ensambles are a collective effort; it is easiest to liken this difference to a single musician and an orchestra. Both can play the same music, but they play in very different ways.
The complexity of flavour that can be achieved when blending mezcal with generations of craftsmanship makes ensambles particularly unique.
We Recommend: Picaflor Mezcal Wild
In addition to judging a mezcal by its agave, there are also specific categories of mezcal according to production method and whether the mezcal has been aged. It’s important to note that the various methods of producing mezcal have a small effect on the overall flavour of the finished product and are more of an indicator of cultural authenticity.
To be considered a mezcal proper, a mezcalero must:
- Cook the piñas or the juices of agave in earthen pits, brick ovens or industrial ovens called autoclaves.
- Mill the pinas with a tahona, Chilean or Egyptian mill (which are very similar to a Tahona, but crucially, not Mexican; which counts for a lot in such a proud country), mechanical mill or diffuser.
- Ferment inside wooden containers, containers made of concrete or earth or stainless steel tanks.
- Distil in an alembic pot still made of copper or stainless steel or continuous stills made of copper or stainless steel.
Artisanal mezcal producers may only be permitted to:
- Cooking agave hearts in earthen pits or brick/clay ovens.
- Milling cooked agaves with a hand mallet, a tahona, a Chilean or Egyptian mill, or a mechanical mill. It bears saying again for emphasis, A HAND MALLET!
- Fermentation can take place in animal skins, pits or tanks made of stone, earth, tree trunk, inside containers made of concrete earth, or wood. Additionally, the process may include the fibre of the agave.
- Distilled with direct fire inside copper alembic pot stills or Filipino style stills made of clay or wood with clay, copper or stainless steel bottoms. This process can also include the fibre of the agave.
We Recommend:
- The Lost Explorer Espadín
- Dangerous Don Mandarina Mezcal
- Picaflor Mezcal Wild
The most tediously traditional, laborious, backbreaking methodology of making mezcal which happens to create some of the finest distilled liquids on the planet. Preparation must comply with, at least, the following four stages:
- Cooking agave hearts in earthen pits only.
- Mechanised mills are not permitted, only a hand mallet, Tahona, Chilean or Egyptian mill.
- Fermentation has to take place in animal skins, pits or tanks made of stone, earth, tree trunk, masonry basins, or wood. And whose process may include the fibres of the agave.
- It must be distilled over a direct fire in a Filipino-style still made of clay and wood; this process may include the fibre of the agave.
In the final stage of production, mezcal can be left unaged or aged in oak tanks, with just a short period of maturation which will round off some of the unpredictable flavours and allow them to mellow.
- Joven/ Blanco: Young/ unaged
The full breadth of unadulterated wild agave is on show in unaged mezcal.
- Reposado: Rested/ two months in oak
As mezcal rests in oak it starts to lose some of the vibrant, green tension inherent to agave spirits with the wood interaction introducing the mellowing power of vanillins and tannins.
- Añejo: Aged/ one year in oak barrels
The main thing to remember about the maturation process is that it naturally softens that distinct mezcal smokiness into something more rounded. That isn’t a bad thing of course! There’s a whole register of flavours available to anjeños that you couldn’t find anywhere else in the world of mezcal.
For many, the most exciting thing about mezcal is its diverse flavour potential. This can also be the spirit’s most intimidating aspect, with its rough, untamed edges.
I advise sipping it (do not slam it) neat at room temperature out of a copita, a small drinking bowl, or a Veladora glass, both of which ooze Mexican pragmatism. If you have neither of these, a stemmed glass with a narrow nose will help to intensify flavours. Sherry glasses and small wine glasses will do in a pinch.
Once you have pinpointed your preferred style, head to our mezcal spirits section and recipe library to experiment with using it in cocktails.
