Discover Mezcal

Mezcal was once the poor cousin to tequila, but no more. Made from the fermented juice of the pina--or core--of the agave plant, it has rapidly displaced tequila (essentially mezcal, but made from blue agave) as the tipple of choice for young Mexicans. "Mezcal brings happiness to the soul," says Ricardo Munoz Zurita, a food historian and chef who stocks 35 varieties in his Mexico City restaurants.