Derrumbes Zacatecas Joven Tequilana Weber Mezcal

Derrumbes Zacatecas is the mezcal that tastes like tequila — because it's made from the tequila plant, just across a canyon from the Tequila Valley. Derrumbes is a mezcal atlas, one bottle per state, and Zacatecas's comes from Huitzila, a village separated from Jalisco's tequila country by a single dramatic barranca, made by the Bañuelos family from Agave tequilana Weber — blue agave — with some local masparillo (Agave guadalajarana). While most of the region makes tequila-style mezcal in ovens and columns, the Bañuelos are among the few who still do it the old way: pit-roasted, hand-chopped with machete and shredder, naturally fermented in wood, and double-distilled in a stainless pot still with a copper coil. Check your label for ABV. Mezcal Reviews' tasters are honest and split: one found lime, minerals, vanilla, icing, white chocolate, and sweet potato — much like a very good tequila, and a probable blind-tasting trap; another said for a tequila it would be amazing, for a mezcal a bit boring; a third who dislikes tequila called it the first mezcal that didn't taste good to them. Expect cooked blue agave's sweet, peppery, citrus-and-vanilla character with a whisper of pit smoke and a mineral edge. Honest note: this is the bottle that teaches what separates tequila from mezcal, and the answer is mostly the oven. For a tequila drinker crossing over, or a side-by-side with a good blanco, it's a fascinating experiment. Neat, with an open mind.

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