Personally I am a big fan. It’s the smokier more complex big brother of tequila. (Yeah I know that more technically tequila is a subset of mezcal, but in practical terms tequila is never called mezal and mezcals have a different set of flavor profiles.)
Nice to just sip but quite refreshing 2 parts with one part Campari and one of grapefruit juice.
Any other fans?
I still remember the first time that I ate the worm from a bottle. It was a little trippy.
To me, mezcal tastes like burnt tequila. I am not sure if I can ever overcome that.
Next up: Bacanora!
If the mezcal you had had a worm in the bottle you 1) had crappy mezcal and 2) had it many many years ago. Get yourself a bottle of Del Maguey Vida as a good start - should be under $40. You can of course go higher end and easily spend twice that or more but Vida is quite good.
I’d put it this way - if you prefer rye in addition to or even over bourbon; Ardberg or Laphroaig as well as or over Glenfiddich, then you’ll appreciate Del Maguey over a Patron.
If you prefer the latter solidly in each case then mezcal is likely not for you.
In order to be called tequila, it must have been produced in the state of Jalisco.
But you are right Mezcal is normally smokey.
Mezcal is pretty nice, I agree. The nice thing about all the agave distillates is that even the cheap stuff is relatively smooth. However, I haven’t been drinking a lot of it or Tequila over the last couple of years. I’ll have to pick up a bottle next time I’m at the liquor store.
OK! About once a week I drop by one of the bars downtown for a fine cocktail or two. I’ve been neglecting The Pastry War–will check in again next week! (They have a* really interesting* selection of agave-based liquors.)
I quite enjoyed an unreasonable amount of bacanora when I lived in Hermosillo several years ago. I’d love to get my hands on some.