Question: does all mezcal taste smoky?
Answer: Mezcal gets its smoky flavor during the production process. The hearts of the agave plants, piñas, are cooked in pits in the ground in a style that's similar to that for making barbacoa. (Tequila agaves, by contrast, aren't cooked.) ... "In the past it used to be called vino de mezcal, or mezcal wine," Vallejo says.