If you have keep hearing all the hype about Mezcal but can’t seem to get over its smokiness, here is a method that may help. My favorite description of a Mezcal cocktail I’ve heard is a “Campfire in your mouth!”. While that doesn’t sound appealing and is an exaggeration, it makes me laugh every time I hear it! This method was taught to me by a bartender at the Liberty hotel in Boston. I had been telling him that my wife was really struggling to enjoy my Mezcal based cocktails and he described a method to me to help.
What you do is before making your favorite cocktail, add a tiny bit of Mezcal to the glass and swirl it around. The same way you would with with Vermouth in a very dry Martini. Dump out the mezcal and then make the normal cocktail. The smokiness in your cocktail should be very subtle allowing you to appreciate it, without being overpowered by it.
After a few times you should be able to appreciate a full blown Mezcal cocktail. While I didn’t use this exact method with my wife, I did finally get her to appreciate the amazing smokiness of Mezcal and now its a regular addition to many cocktails for us.