Mezcal

Where it started

Mezcal has held an appellation of origin since 1994; the resolution was published on November 28 of that year.²¹ The current standard, NOM-070-SCFI-2016, was published in the Diario Oficial on February 23, 2017, and sorts mezcal into three production categories.¹ It also ended the old blended "Type II" mezcal: producers got four years to keep making it, labeled "MEZCAL 80/20" or "TYPE II MEZCAL."¹

Where and how it's made

The appellation covers Oaxaca, Guerrero, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and Durango, plus municipalities in Puebla, Michoacán, Tamaulipas and Guanajuato.² Production is concentrated: Oaxaca made 89.47 percent of certified mezcal in 2025.³ Wild or cultivated agaves are allowed, but they must be mature, registered and geo-referenced, and they travel to the distillery with a maguey guide.¹ Espadín (Agave angustifolia) accounted for 84.53 percent of 2025 production; tobalá (Agave potatorum) and cenizo (Agave durangensis) were around 2 percent each.³

The standard sorts mezcal by how it is made: - Mezcal — cooking in pit ovens, stone ovens or autoclaves; any mill, including a diffuser; column stills allowed.¹ - Mezcal Artesanal — pit or raised stone ovens; mallets, tahona or mills; fermentation in stone, wood, clay or animal skins; direct-fire copper or clay pot stills.¹ - Mezcal Ancestral — stone-pit cooking, hand or tahona milling, and distillation over direct fire in a clay pot.¹

Artesanal is the everyday reality: it made up 91.03 percent of 2025 volume.³ Mezcal must be 35 to 55 percent alcohol by volume.¹ In the U.S., mezcal is a type of agave spirit that must be made in Mexico under Mexican law.⁵

How to taste it

A copita, a veladora candle glass or a small tulip, at room temperature, in small sips. Let the smoke settle and look behind it for fruit, flowers, minerals and green pepper; wild agaves tend to be more herbal and savory than espadín. Pairings: tlayuda, grilled chorizo, orange slices with sal de gusano.

Styles and what the label means

• Blanco o Joven — colorless, no further processing; 95.53 percent of 2025 volume.¹³
• Madurado en Vidrio — rested more than 12 months in glass.¹
• Reposado — 2 to 12 months in wood of any size.¹
• Añejo — more than 12 months in wood under 1,000 liters.¹
• Abocado con — flavored after distillation, with ingredients such as maguey worm, damiana or mango.¹
• Destilado con — redistilled with ingredients; this is where pechuga, made with chicken or turkey breast, lives.¹

Every bottle must name the agave species (in descending order if more than one), the state of production and the words PROTECTED DENOMINATION OF ORIGIN.¹ Retail bottles may hold no more than 5 liters.¹