Mescal is for Mexicans and people that want to tell you all about how it's so different from Tequila. When people pull out the Samogon (aka Russian Moonshine), it's sign it's time to call it a night. four loko is the drink of insane people or soon to be puking 15 year olds.
I drank it as an adult to see what it was. Adding yeast to juice is a bad idea. It's a very popular bad idea. Juice that fucks you up is an ever expanding market. What specific law requires it to be malted, I don't know. Pour a little grain alcohol into a Pepsi, sell that and save a bunch of people stomach cramps, please.
Hey, now! Mezcal is to tequila what brandy is to cognac - it's a less restrictive appellation which means you get a much broader spectrum of flavor. Of course across most of the US the only one you can get is Monte Alban so it's kind of like comparing every cognac available to like B&B, except with a worm in it for some reason.
Yeah! It’s just that Mezcal has been having a massive popularity swing recently. Running the tours I do, I find most of the non-Mexican people don’t know what it is. But the ones that do know, love to talk about how different it is from tequila. And how much better it is. Gin had its time, now it’s all about the Mescal.