Tequila & Mezcal

The relationship

The two are related the way bourbon and whiskey are: one is a subset of the other. Both come from distilling the heart of the agave plant, called the piña. Mezcal can be made from roughly thirty agave varieties. Tequila only from blue agave.

Method separates them too. For tequila, the agave is steamed in ovens and distilled in copper. For mezcal, it's cooked over charcoal in basalt-lined pits in the ground and distilled in clay, which is where that characteristic smoke comes from. As with Scotch, there are exceptions: some mezcals carry no smoke at all, others just a trace for balance.

Reading the age

Plata (up to 2 months), also sold as blanco, silver, joven, or white, is the purest expression, bottled soon after distilling, and it should taste fresh and fruity with a clean herbaceous edge. When a recipe doesn't specify, this is what it means.

Reposado (2 to 12 months) is "rested," mellowed by the barrel, picking up oak, vanilla, baking spice, and fruit. Añejo (1 to 3 years) goes deeper still, into wood, nuts, and chocolate, always soft and smooth. Extra añejo (3 years and up) only became an official category in March 2006.

The one thing to avoid

Tequila is an Appellation of Origin, like Champagne, and the agave is tended by jimadors who still do most of the work by hand, planting, caring and harvesting at exactly the right ripeness. An enormous amount of labor goes into every bottle of 100% blue agave.

Anything less than 100% agave is a mixto: legally only 51% blue agave sugar, with the rest coming from elsewhere, often sugarcane. It's cheaper to make, there's far more of it on the shelf, it tastes worse, and it will treat you worse the next morning.

Choosing a mezcal

Check the ABV. Higher alcohol means less dilution and more of the oils that carry flavor and complexity. Roughly: 40% is built for export markets, though single-village bottlings at that strength can still have real character. At 46% and above you can trust you're getting something traditional.

Del Maguey Vida is the reliable default. Tropical, fruity and toasty, it was designed specifically because bartenders asked for a mezcal that would behave in cocktails.

And the worm isn't a hallmark of the spirit. The gusano became famous through a 1970s Monte Albán marketing campaign. It feeds on the agave, it's thought to be highly nutritious, and it can add a subtle savory note, but its absence says nothing about quality.