Casamigos Mezcal Joven

Verdict

Skip it. Casamigos Mezcal is the lowest-scored bottle in our catalog and the only one we'd actively counsel against – a brand that sells a face on the label and sends mezcal as the afterthought. The post-Diageo liquid has not improved and the celebrity halo does not survive the glass. Every dollar here is a dollar that would have bought you more mezcal in a Banhez bottle or half a Vida. Consensus 1.2 grades the label more kindly than we would.

Tasting notes

Nose: Sweet – then thin, confected – a vanilla-forward base with barely any smoke, a faint cane-sugar note and something vaguely alcoholic underneath

Palate: Almost sugary, industrial, with a manufactured smoothness that plays as absence. 40% is the wrong proof for anything the agave might have wanted to say, and every production decision points toward drinkability-for-non-mezcal-drinkers rather than toward the spirit

Finish: Hot, sweet, gone in a way that almost feels engineered – short

The bottom line

Don't

Where to buy online

We found this bottle at 3 US retailers. Prices and stock vary – click through to check.

• Total Wine & More – $60
• BevMo!
• Oak and Barrel NYC