Learn to appreciate high quality mezcal, savoring every flavor and aroma of the world's most complex spirits.
How To Drink Mezcal: 7 Steps to Fully Appreciating Agave Spirits
Mezcal and agave spirits are arguably the most complex liquors on earth. Unlike a fine Scotch, that gets its flavor from years of resting in wooden barrels, mezcal and agave spirits harness flavors from the plants they are derived from. With over 30 different varieties used to craft the artisanal liquors, each with a totally unique flavor profile, these agave’s garner flavors from the earth, wind, water, minerals and terroir where they were grown. You can make Scotch every year, you can only make mezcal and agave spirits after the agave plants have matured, which typically takes 6 to 25 years.
While you may drink mezcal however you please, the master distillers and mezcal sommeliers that make and study these complex expressions have certain practices they use to get the most flavor, aromas and enjoyment when drinking agave spirits. Here’s how to drink mezcal in 7 easy steps.
Pour it neat into a small glass:
A little goes a long way when it comes to high proof and high quality mezcal and agave spirits. In Mexico, mezcal is traditionally sipped neat from a small gourd, called a jicara (pronounced hii-car-aa). In recent years, bars and mezcal drinkers often sip from small glasses with a cross on the bottom, originally used to hold candles in church. While there is no religious connotation here, the saying “Hasta la cruz” (until the cross) has caught on in the mezcal world, meaning, drink it until it is gone. Alternatively, some people enjoy drinking from small clay cups.
While clay cups and mezcal jicaras are traditional mezcal drinking cups, they can absorb some of the precious fluid. Glass copitas offer an excellent alternative as they are the right size and shape for drinking mezcal and they don’t absorb any liquid.
Smell it:
Black cherry, fresh cut grass, tobacco, grapefruit, the list goes on. Mezcal and agave spirits have a depth of aromas that expand with each whif. Take the time to note what you smell. What does it remind you of? What associations do you have with these perfume-like spirits? Before sipping, put your nose close to the copita and breath in slowly. Allow the full breath of complexity to enter your nostrils before you wet your whistle.
Take a tiny sip:
Ah, the moment you’ve been waiting for. But wait! Rather than diving in with a cannonball, dip your toes. Hold the liquid in your mouth for a few seconds.
Swish it around in your mouth:
One way to really open up your palate with the flavors is by swishing a little around in your mouth like mouthwash. You may feel a tingling sensation in your gums and mouth. Notice which parts of your mouth are activated with different expressions. Is it around the tip? In the back by your gums? Around your whole mouth?
Swallow:
Simple as that.
Breath in through your mouth:
Wait a few seconds after you’ve taken your first sip, then slowly inhale.
Continue sipping slowly:
The first sip will always be the most abrasive. On the second one, your palate will begin to adapt and on the third you’ll be smooth sailing. Remember, it could have taken that agave 15 years to grow in the ground, take 15 minutes to enjoy it.
Bonus tips
Describe your experience:
The complexity within each spirit, not to mention the class all together, is noteworthy. What sensations do you feel? What smells are you picking up? What are the flavors you are reminded of? Do they bring back an old memory? Where in your mouth are you tasting them?
Clean your pallet:
If you are going to explore multiple expressions in a single session, like those in the Luneta Tasting Kit, clean your pallet by swishing around water in your mouth between each variety. Cucumber, apple or jicama are also great supplements for cleaning your palate between drinks.
Revisit expressions:
If you’re doing a mezcal tasting, save some of each expression to go back and re-taste after going through the line up. You may find new flavor notes and aromas that open up after you dive deeper.
Salud!
Wolf Spirits