Mezcal

Tequila's smoky elder: mezcal is agave spirit made the slow, ancestral way, and you taste the fire in every sip. Ingredients: mature agave hearts — espadín and wilder species like tobalá — volcanic rock, firewood, water and wild fermentation. Method: 1) Roast the piñas for days in earthen pits lined with hot volcanic stones. 2) Crush (often by a stone tahona wheel), ferment in open vats, and distill in copper or clay stills. 3) Serve neat in a wide jícara or veladora glass, with orange slices and sal de gusano — worm salt with chile. The experience: smoke first, then roasted agave, earth and fruit, unfolding in layers. History: Oaxaca is mezcal's heartland, where family palenques have worked this way for centuries. The old saying runs: “Para todo mal, mezcal; para todo bien, también” — for everything bad, mezcal; for everything good, the same.