Tequila and mezcal are both distilled from agave, and for a long time they shared a name. In the 1800s, the spirit from the town of Tequila, in Jalisco, was sold as vino mezcal de Tequila. Today Mexican law treats them as two separate categories, each with its own rules about which agave can be used and where it can be made.
What separates them
Tequila can only be made from one plant, the blue agave (Agave tequilana, Weber blue variety). Mezcal can be made from dozens of agave species. Most of it comes from espadín, but small batches from wild or slower-growing agaves are a big part of mezcal’s appeal, and two bottles from different plants can taste nothing alike.
Both spirits have a protected denomination of origin, like Champagne in France. Tequila comes from Jalisco and from specific towns in Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. Mezcal’s territory is wider. Oaxaca makes most of it, and the list also includes Guerrero, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and parts of Puebla.
Most of the difference in taste comes from how the agave is cooked. The heart of the plant, the piña, has to be cooked before its sugars can ferment. Tequila producers usually steam the piñas in above-ground ovens or autoclaves, and some large producers use diffusers instead. That keeps the flavor clean and close to the plant: green and a little sweet, with some pepper. Traditional mezcal is cooked in a pit in the ground, lined with hot stones and covered with earth, and the wood smoke soaks into the agave. That is why so many mezcals taste smoky, though how smoky varies a lot from one producer to the next.
Reading the label
Tequila is sold by age:
- Blanco: unaged or rested only briefly. The brightest agave flavor and the usual choice for margaritas.
- Reposado: aged in oak for two months to a year. Softer, with some vanilla and spice from the wood.
- Añejo: aged one to three years. Darker and closer to a whiskey; for sipping.
- Extra añejo: more than three years in oak.
Also check that the bottle says “100% agave.” Tequila without that phrase is a mixto, which may contain up to 49% other sugars.
Mezcal uses similar age words (joven, reposado, añejo), and the label also tells you how it was made. Mezcal ancestral is the most traditional, cooked in a pit and distilled in clay pots. Mezcal artesanal allows copper stills. A bottle that just says mezcal may use modern equipment.
How to drink them
Mexicans usually sip both spirits slowly rather than shoot them. Mezcal often comes with orange slices and sal de gusano, a salt ground with toasted chile and dried agave worm. Tequila is often served neat with a squeeze of lime, or with sangrita, a spicy chaser.
What we pour
Our bar carries more than 70 tequilas and 13 mezcals, and you can order any of them neat, on the rocks or in a margarita. Neat pours come in a short shot glass.
The top of the tequila list belongs to two houses that bottle in hand-painted ceramic. From Clase Azul we pour the Reposado and Clase Azul Gold, and from Dos Artes we carry several añejos, including limited editions. If you’ve never tried a cristalino, an aged tequila filtered until it runs clear, ask for the Gran Centenario Cristalino.
On the mezcal side, the top bottles are Clase Azul’s mezcal and the Xure Añejo, an añejo mezcal aged in wood for at least a year. Order the Xure neat to taste what the wood did to the agave.
If you’re new to agave, start with a margarita. The Skinny is made with fresh lime juice, light agave nectar and Casamigos Blanco, and the Hacienda-Mini lets you choose Casamigos, Herradura, Cazadores, Avión, Jimador or Patrón. See the bar for the rest.
Come by
We’re at 102 McLean Boulevard, Paterson, NJ. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, noon to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, noon to midnight. We’re closed Mondays.
Reservations are by phone at (973) 345-1255, for groups of any size, and walk-ins are always welcome. Hungry too? The full menu is online.