Is mezcal stronger than tequila?

Short answer: yes, the average bottle of artesanal mezcal is stronger than the average bottle of tequila – but not by enough to matter. The interesting question is what 'stronger' actually means in the comparison.

On bottling proof, the numbers favor mezcal. Tequila in the United States is required to be at least 35% ABV (most commercial tequilas hit 38-40%; the better ones reach 43-46%). Artesanal mezcal is almost never bottled below 42% and frequently runs 45-55% – the producers who care about the category consider proof one of the clearest signals of intent. Banhez Ensamble at 42% is on the lower end of mezcal; Real Minero and Lalocura routinely bottle at 50% or above.

But the proof difference between mezcal and tequila is small enough that it isn't what you'd notice when you drink them. The real perceptual difference is intensity, and intensity is mostly about flavor density. A tequila at 40% can feel softer than a mezcal at 45% because the mezcal carries more aromatic compounds – wood smoke, cooked agave, mineral notes – that read as 'strong' regardless of the alcohol content. The same way a Cabernet at 14% can feel heavier than a Riesling at 12%.

Tequila's production process tilts toward clean and consistent. Steam-cooked agaves, column distillation at scale, often a single agave species (blue Weber). The flavor profile is narrower and more reproducible. Mezcal's process tilts toward variable and assertive: pit-oven–cooking, small-batch copper distillation, dozens of different agave species, no two palenques producing identical liquid. Mezcal feels stronger because it carries more flavor information per ounce, even when the proof is similar.

The other dimension of 'stronger' worth naming: the hangover. Higher-ABV bottles produce worse hangovers, all else equal. A 50% mezcal will leave you worse off the next day than a 40% tequila if you drink the same volume. The corollary is that you naturally drink less mezcal – copitas are smaller than shot glasses for a reason, and the aromatic density makes you slow down whether you mean to or not. Most mezcal hangovers we've seen come from people drinking it like tequila and not adjusting volume.

Practical advice: don't substitute mezcal one-for-one in a session built around tequila. Two ounces of artesanal mezcal at 47% ABV is roughly equivalent in alcohol to two-and-a-half ounces of tequila at 40%, and roughly equivalent in palate fatigue to about three. If you're at a bar trying mezcal for the first time after a tequila habit, order one mezcal pour to every two tequila pours and your sense of where the line is will be more accurate.

We covered the broader mezcal-vs-tequila question in a separate piece. The proof question is the smallest of the differences between the two categories. Agave species, cooking method, distillation, and price economics matter more. But yes – measured at the bottle, mezcal is usually a few points hotter.