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Best whisky for tequila and mezcal lovers

From agave to grain: peated malts for mezcal drinkers, oaky bourbon for reposado and añejo fans, and a Scotch finished in a tequila cask, at UK prices.

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Mezcal drinkers who like smoke should start with a peated Scotch such as Talisker 10 Year Old, then move to Kilchoman or Ardbeg for more. Tequila drinkers who prefer reposado or añejo already like oak and vanilla, which bourbon has plenty of: Four Roses Single Barrel adds pepper from rye. Smoke is one route among several, not a test.

From tequila and mezcal to whisky. Smoke is one route among several, not a test. If you like mezcal, peated whisky has a comparable smoky edge: start with Talisker 10 Year Old, then move to Kilchoman Machir Bay or Ardbeg 10 Year Old for more. If you like reposado or añejo tequila, bourbon shares oak, vanilla and caramel from the new charred oak it must be aged in: try Four Roses Single Barrel, whose rye adds pepper, or Maker's Mark 46. For a note of tequila itself, try a Scotch finished in a cask that held tequila: Caol Ila 19 Year Old DS Tayman Tequila Edition.

Two kinds of smoke

Mezcal and peated whisky both taste of smoke, but it gets there differently.

Two kinds of smoke. Mezcal and peated whisky both taste of smoke, but it gets there differently. For mezcal, the agave hearts, or piñas, are traditionally roasted in pits in the ground over wood and stones, then crushed and fermented; the smoke comes from the wood fire. For peated whisky, the barley is malted, then dried over a peat fire; smoky phenols stick to the grain and survive, in part, through fermentation, distillation and ageing. Peat smoke tends to read as more medicinal or maritime than wood smoke.

Peat smoke tends to read as more medicinal or maritime than wood smoke. Whiskipedia explains peat in whisky, and its page on phenols gives typical ppm figures for each distillery. Those figures are measured on the malted barley, not the whisky in the bottle.

For mezcal drinkers: peated malts

Talisker 10 Year Old (£39.15 at Master of Malt). Island single malt from the Isle of Skye, 45.8% ABV, made from peated malt commonly cited at 20 to 25 ppm, with about a quarter of the mash reportedly unpeated. Moderate smoke with a peppery character.

Kilchoman Machir Bay (£44.25 at Master of Malt). Islay single malt, 46% ABV, no age statement (NAS). Kilchoman’s standard malt is commonly cited as peated to about 50 ppm.

Ardbeg 10 Year Old (£40.52 at Master of Malt). Islay single malt, 46% ABV, non-chill-filtered, matured in ex-bourbon casks, from malt commonly cited at 50 to 55 ppm.

For tequila drinkers: oak, vanilla and pepper

Reposado tequila is aged in oak for at least two months, and añejo for at least a year. Bourbon goes further: by law it is made from at least 51% corn and aged in new charred oak containers, so the cask gives vanilla and caramel quickly.

Four Roses Single Barrel (currently unavailable). Kentucky bourbon, 50% ABV, from one barrel at a time. Its mash is 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley; rye usually gives a spicier, peppery bourbon.

Maker’s Mark 46 (£47.00 at The Whisky Shop). Kentucky wheated bourbon, 47% ABV, finished with seared French oak staves inserted into the barrel. Softer than a high-rye bourbon, with more wood spice than standard Maker’s Mark.

A Scotch finished in a tequila cask

Caol Ila 19 Year Old DS Tayman Tequila Edition (currently unavailable). A peated Islay single malt from an independent bottler, DS Tayman, finished in a cask that held tequila and bottled at cask strength (50.5% ABV). Treat a tequila-cask finish as a fact about one bottling, not a style: another tequila-cask whisky may taste quite different.

Scotch has been allowed in agave-spirit casks only since the Scotch Whisky Technical File was amended in June 2019. Whiskipedia’s guide to wood types covers the casks whisky can be matured in.

None of these bottles is in stock at the retailers we check right now.

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Questions

What whisky tastes like mezcal?
None tastes the same, but peated whisky has a comparable smoky edge. Mezcal’s smoke comes from roasting agave hearts in earth pits over wood; peated whisky’s comes from drying malted barley over peat. Talisker 10 Year Old is a moderate starting point, and Ardbeg 10 Year Old a much smokier one.
Is peated whisky smoky?
Yes, but by very different amounts. Commonly cited malt specifications put Bowmore at 25 to 30 ppm phenols, Talisker at 20 to 25 (for its peated malt; about a quarter of the mash is reportedly unpeated), Laphroaig at 45 to 50 (for the malt it floor-malts on site, about 20% of its needs) and Ardbeg at 50 to 55. ppm is measured on the malted barley, not the whisky: distilling and cask ageing change how much reaches the glass, so it is a guide, not a reading from the bottle. See Whiskipedia on phenols.
Can tequila drinkers enjoy bourbon?
Often. Reposado and añejo tequila drinkers already like oak, vanilla and caramel, which bourbon takes from the new charred oak barrels it must be aged in. A high-rye bourbon such as Four Roses Single Barrel, made from a mash of 60% corn, 35% rye and 5% malted barley, adds a peppery edge.
What is a tequila-cask finish?
Whisky finished in a cask that previously held tequila. Scotch may mature or finish in casks that held agave spirits such as tequila and mezcal, provided the spirit keeps the traditional colour, taste, and aroma of Scotch.

About the author

Tom Gregan

· Writer

Tom came to whisky by way of cocktails and rum. As the mind behind CocktailDB.com he spent years on citrus balance, bitters and modifiers before John dragged him over to neat spirits.