the.com/mezcal

means A Mexican spirit distilled from the roasted, fermented hearts of agave plants — smokier and more varied than tequila, which is technically just one narrow style of mezcal.

from From Nahuatl 'mexcalli,' meaning roughly 'oven-cooked agave' — built from 'metl' (agave) and 'ixca' (to cook something in an underground oven). That cooking method is exactly why mezcal tastes of smoke: the agave hearts, or piñas, are still traditionally roasted in earthen pits lined with hot stones before fermenting and distilling, a technique with roots going back long before the Spanish arrived and brought distillation with them.