Cocktail · Medium strength
Mezcal Margarita
The margarita after it discovered vinyl records and campfires.
How to order it: Espadín mezcal, lime, agave. Tajín rim if you're feeling alive.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 2 oz espadín mezcal
- 1 oz lime juice
- ¾ oz agave syrup
- Shake; strain over ice
- Tajín rim, lime wheel
The story
No inventor claims this one, because it didn't need inventing — it needed permission. Mezcal, agave spirit made in small Oaxacan villages by methods centuries old, spent generations dismissed abroad as tequila's rough cousin, worm and all. When serious bottlings began reaching American craft bars in the 2000s, bartenders did the obvious experiment: swap it into the Margarita. The smoke changed everything, turning a beach drink into something with shadows — campfire under the lime, earth under the salt. The riff became a fixture so quickly it now appears on menus as if it had always existed. It endures because it gave the world's favorite cocktail a past life.
Classic variation
The Mezcal Margarita is a riff on a classic. Meet the original:
Adjacent pours