Mezcal for beginners — I'm scared of the smoke. Where do I start?

You're not doing anything wrong — mezcal IS an acquired taste for a lot of people, and the smoky espadin bottles that dominate the market are the most intense expression of it. Here's my beginner roadmap: 1. **Start with Del Maguey Vida** (~$30). It's smoky, but it's also sweet and fruity. Try it in a cocktail first — a mezcal mule (mezcal, ginger beer, lime) or a mezcal paloma. The mixers tame the smoke. 2. **Then try Banhez Ensemble** (~$25). It's a blend of espadin and barril agave, and the barril adds floral, herbal notes that balance the smoke beautifully. 3. **When you're ready for a sipping mezcal**, go for Montelobos Tobala (~$55). Tobala agave is wild-harvested and produces a mezcal that's more perfumey and complex than smoky. It's like the single malt scotch equivalent in the mezcal world. The key is: don't fight the smoke. Let it be there. Focus on what's behind it — fruit, mineral, herbs, earth. Once you stop tasting "smoke" and start tasting "roasted agave with smoke as one component," you're in.

Hot take: try a mezcal cocktail before sipping it neat. A mezcal negroni (1oz mezcal, 1oz sweet vermouth, 1oz Campari) is what converted me. The bitter and sweet from the other ingredients frame the smokiness in a way that makes it click. Then once you "get it" in cocktail form, neat pours start making sense.

I was exactly where you are six months ago! What worked for me was doing a side-by-side tasting of a blanco tequila and a mezcal with the same food. The food (dark chocolate, specifically) helped bridge the gap. The smokiness paired with chocolate in a way that suddenly made the whole thing make sense. Now I keep a bottle of Del Maguey Vida on my bar cart permanently.