Del Maguey VIDA Mezcal

Its so smokey and refreshing

Del Maguey Vida is probably the most well-known mezcal out there. I'm sure many people started with this mezcal before venturing into more complex and interesting mezcals. I still see it a ton in bars, but even as an entry level mezcal, there are better one's out there (thinking El Buho). The nose is heavy on the smoke and a bit of pepper. The smoke follows thru on the palate, but it does feel watered down. A bit of pineapple and leather follows, but it's mainly smoke. The finish has a bit of spice, although I get some chemical/industrial notes with a light burn. I still enjoy this in cocktails, but I don't drink it neat anymore. As a cocktail ingredient I would put this closer to a 3, but neat it's in the 1.5-2 range. The price of this keeps going up and it's been rebranded to Vida Clasico. I'm guessing it still tastes the same, but for $40 or more, this is too expensive for a cocktail focused mezcal. Stick to El Buho or even Banhez which can be found for closer to $30, sometimes cheaper than that for your mezcal cocktails.

For my first bottle of mezcal, I don’t know if I could have chosen much better. This gets across the smokiness I want for mixing without being intolerable for sipping and in fact is quite good on its own.