Mezcal Margarita

Some bottles are smoked far harder than others, and there's no fixing it once it's in the glass. Next time, build it with thirty milliliters of mezcal and thirty of blanco tequila. You keep the smoke as an accent and get the bright agave underneath it back.

In this one, yes. Cointreau runs 40 percent alcohol and tastes of orange peel. The sweet stuff in a plastic bottle runs half that and tastes of orange candy. Against mezcal the difference is obvious, because the smoke exposes anything sugary sitting next to it.

Coarse or flaky, never table salt, which dissolves into a briny stripe. Rub a lime wedge on the outside of the rim only and roll it in the salt so none falls into the drink. Sal de gusano, the chili and salt blend served alongside mezcal in Oaxaca, is better still.

Over ice is the usual service. Served up it hits harder and warms faster, so pour a smaller measure and shake a few seconds longer to make up the dilution the cubes in the glass would have given you. Over cubes it stays drinkable for a good twenty minutes.

A classic Mezcal Margarita calls for 60 ml (2 oz) Mezcal, 22 ml (0.75 oz) Triple sec / Cointreau, 30 ml (1 oz) Fresh lime juice. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Mezcal Margarita is roughly 31% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

A Mezcal Margarita is shaken — the rule of thumb is to shake anything with citrus juice. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.