Fidencio Clasico. I adore this mezcal so much. I got this bottle to replace my beloved Del Maguey Vida (which was my first mezcal), and it’s slowly stolen my heart as my go-to “cocktail mezcal.” Don’t get me wrong, Vida is great for cocktails as well, but Fidencio Clasico just packs an extra punch and intensity I adore.

The most acclaimed difference between mezcal and tequila is the smokiness, which comes from the method in how the agave plant is cooked. Mezcal is generally created from fire-roasted agave while tequila from steamed/pressure-cooked agave. This roasting is traditionally done in underground pits, lending to the smokiness in the end product.

And what’s the point of smoking or steaming the agave? Well, if you’ve ever seen an agave plant, it’s a large spiky leafy plant that looks like a huge version of the top of a pineapple or like a denser, larger aloe vera plant. The leaves are cut off to expose the center, which looks like a huge pineapple aptly called the “piña.” This is where most of the carbohydrates of the plant are stored.

In order to make alcohol, you need sugar and yeast, so to break down the complex starches into fermentable sugar, the piña is cooked. As an analogy, think about the caramelization of onions over steady heat and how much the flavor changes. Just as how steamed onion is super different from roasted onions, you can imagine this cooking process impacting the agave in a similar way.

Check out some mezcal cocktail recipes here!