> There's a lot of taste variation between different mezcals, partly since they don't all use the same species of agave.

100% agree. That’s why I prefer Mezcal over tequila so strongly. In the 70s tequila got its legal denomination of origin specifying that it must be pure blue agave. It was a sort of quality control at the time, but there are so many other species of agave which can give mezcal a completely different flavor profile.

For anyone who likes liquors but hasn’t given mezcal a shot, I’d suggest checking out Aquilino Garcia Mezcal. They use authentic production methods, and have a lot of different mezcals which all use different types and ratios of agave species - https://www.mezcalreviews.com/filter-by/mezcalero/aquilino-g...