Mezcal

1. 1

   The sugar

   Piñas of many agave species, some wild, are roasted for days in a pit in the ground lined with hot stones and covered with earth (required for the artisanal and ancestral categories): the smoke gives mezcal its character.

2. 2

   The ferment

   The crushed agave, sometimes milled by a stone wheel turned by a horse, ferments in open wooden vats with wild yeasts.

3. 3

   The still

   Usually twice; in copper pot stills, or in small clay pots with a cooling dish for the 'ancestral' category.

4. 4

   The wait

   Most mezcal is drunk unaged.

The rules

• Any agave species within the mezcal appellation (Oaxaca and several other states)
• Categories by method: mezcal, artisanal, ancestral (clay stills)
• 100% agave

In the glass

Smoke, roasted agave, earth, and wide variety from species to species.