Tequila-based margaritas and palomas have long been cocktail-menu staples, but their base ingredient - agave - is working its way into other cocktails for a modern twist on traditional drinks. While tequila, made from the blue agave plant, is the best-known of the agave spirits, mezcal has also grown in popularity. It's made from a wider variety of agaves across Mexico, and is roasted underground for a smokier flavor.
Alan Uresti Silva, U.K. brand ambassador for The Lost Explorer Mezcal, says that when he came to London from Mexico nine years ago, it was hard to find an agave cocktail on a bar list aside from a margarita.
Longtime bartender Bobby Hiddleston, who co-founded London's Swift cocktail bars, agrees. Back then, he says, he wouldn’t have been able to sell a mezcal cocktail. The change in attitude comes "off the shoulders of good quality tequila,” he says, adding that it’s great to see the agave category as a whole doing so well.
There's more understanding today among bartenders about agave, says Elon Soddu, co-founder of Amaro bar, across town. There are also more variations of agave, which he says makes it easy to swap out almost anything in your traditional cocktail for an agave alternative. Both blanco tequilas (non-aged tequilas) and young, lighter-smoked mezcals have a bright grassiness or "green flavor” that works well with citrus, says Hiddleston.
Uresti Silva adds that these savory vegetal notes can balance or replace a gin or vodka for something ligh.
