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Easy Mezcal Cocktails

Devin Kidner

Mezcal is Mexico’s national spirit, but how much do you really know about the agave-based spirit? And how exactly is it different from tequila?

We invited Rob Diaz of Diaz Brothers Agave, featured in Forbes’ “Comprehensive Guide To The Best Mezcals,” to chat with us about Mezcal, how to properly taste it, and how to mix them into cocktails.

Check out Diaz Brothers Agave and where they’re sold here. And if you have any other questions, slip into our DMs.

A bit about Mezcal

Nine Mexican states grow the agave that can be made into Mezcal, but Oaxaca is where the majority of Mezcal comes from. Some legal notes that applies to every Mezcal: No non-agave sugars are allowed to make Mezcal, but government-approved sweeteners, colourings, and flavourings are allowed. Mezcal can be made from any variety of cultivated wild agave.

Mezcal classifications:

  • Blanco or Joven has not been altered post-distillation in any way

  • Madurado en vidrio, or matured in glass, needs to be just that: aged in glass vessels larger than 5 L for more than 12 months

  • Reposado has been aged in wooden vessels of any size or shape between 2 and 12 months

  • Añejo is aged in wooden vessels (x < 1000 L) for more than 12 months

  • Abocado con, or with abocado, means that the Mezcal has been flavoured by maceration (as long as the flavouring agent has been approved safe for human consumption, these Mezcals can include the agave worm, damiana, lemon, honey, etc.)

  • Destilado con, or distilled with, sees Mezcals re-distilled with flavouring ingredients like turkey, rabbit, plums, mole

Categories of Mezcal are broken down into how the agave is cooked, extracted, fermented, and distilled:

  • Mezcal: The juice or agave heart is cooked in fire pits or masonry ovens or autoclaves; it’s extracted by mechanical methods (tahona, roller mills, shredders, etc.); can be fermented in wood, masonry, or stainless steel vessels; distilled in batch or continuous stills made from copper or stainless steel

  • Artisanal Mezcal: The agave heart is cooked in fire pits or masonry ovens; extracted via electric or manual methods (mallets, tahona, roller mills, shredder); fermented in stone or soil pits or animal skins, wood or clay vessels; distillation must take place in directly heated pot stills made from either copper or clay

  • Ancestral Mezcal: The agave heart is cooked in fire pits; extracted via manual methods (mallets or tahona); fermented in stone or soil pits or animal skins, hollowed tree trunks or masonry vessels, wood or clay vessels; distillation must take place in directly heated pot stills made from clay and the still head can be made from clay or wood.

Hola, Oaxaca
(Rob Diaz’ cocktail)

Rob knows what pairs well with a bottle of Mezcal: Mexican cuisine. So he created this recipe to enjoy it with the ingredients you have on hand to make a salsa, that way the cocktail pairs perfectly with your meal! Pretty brilliant!

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Diaz Brothers Agave Espadin

  • 1 oz Simple Syrup*

  • 1 oz Lime Juice

  • 1 oz Pico de Gallo water**

  • 3-4 sprigs of Cilantro***

  • Salt + Pepper

Add first 4 ingredients into a shaker.

Slap the cilantro between your hands to smash it a bit before adding it to the shaker (this releases the oils and aromatics in the leaves).

Shake vigorously with ice.

Strain into a glass and add cilantro, S+P on top as a garnish.

*If you want, you can use .5 oz of simple syrup and .5 oz of Triple Sec (orange liqueur).

**Pico de Gallo water is just the liquid your Pico de Gallo sits in. Drain it off, and voila!

**You can also substitute parsley for cilantro, if you’re a die-hard cilantro hater.

FLAMING BLUEBERRY-COCONUT MEZCAL PUNCH

I like using things in the pantry I might not otherwise have used. I found blueberry preserves that I thought would pair perfectly with the coffee undertow of the Mezcal and a little coconut milk to add a creamy mouthfeel that helps quell the harsher earthy flavours. I didn’t want to make this a sweet cocktail, but the result is something smoky and creamy, with a zesty nod to blueberries and aromatics of coffee and vanilla.

Ingredients:

Add first 6 ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. Strain over colander into Pyrex.

Pour into a glass with lots of ice, shake vigorously for 15 seconds.

Strain into a glass and add HL Bourbon Vanilla Bitters on the top.

Garnish with blueberries and fire.