Best Overall Mezcal: Amarás Americana
In 2010 Mexican entrepreneurs Santiago Suarez Cordova and Luis Niño de Rivera sensed an upcoming boom in mezcal and decided to create a sustainable style that for every agave harvested, 10 are planted. One of Amarás’s latest offerings uses agave species Americana, known for its large size and heavily aromatic sweetness. Harvested at eight to 10 years of maturity, when the flavors are at their peak, this mezcal exudes a subtle candied sweetness coupled with delicate smoke over layers of fruit compote, leaving a silky-smooth finish. Crafted in the Tlacolula region of Oaxaca by Maestra Mescalera Diana Orozco Cruz—one of the industry’s few women mescaleras—this versatile mezcal is equally at home whether sipped in a traditional earthen copita, a crystal snifter, or in a Negroni.
