“Ancestral mezcal is the most ancient — you have to cook [the agave] in earthen pits. You have to ferment in wood or clay, or tree trunks, and you have to distill in clay,” says Janze ...

For four generations, his family has made mezcal in the region of San Juan del ... a covering of river rocks and banana tree husks helps trap in the heat. After 24 hours of cooking, the agave ...

The US market for mezcal overtook Mexico's in 2019. But as demand soars stateside, small Mexican mezcal producers aren't making the big bucks. While Mexican regulations do require mezcal to be ...