Mezcal

Mezcal is made from dozens of agave species across nine Mexican states, most of it in Oaxaca, by small palenques that cook the agave in earthen pits, crush it by tahona or by hand, ferment in open wood vats and distil in copper or clay. Smoke is one note among many; earth, minerals, tropical fruit and cooked agave are the rest.

Look for the agave on the label. Espadín is the workhorse; tobalá, tepeztate, cuishe and arroqueño are wild or semi-wild species with their own character and much smaller harvests.