If you don't have mezcal on hand, you can still make this spicy and delicious hot chocolate—try using aged rum or tequila. More

The Kings Ginger helps emphasize the delicately earthy flavor of unsmoked Fidencio mezcal in this refreshing spin on the Paloma from John John McCarthy of Whitehall and Mary Queen of Scots in NYC. More

McCarthy affectionately refers to this one as the "Smoky Smoky," although by my count, you could tack on a few more iterations—smoky smoky smoky? Scotch and Fidencio mezcal blend with dark agave and orange and chocolate bitters, with a spritz of hyper-smoky Ardbeg 10-year, plus a mighty twist of flamed grapefruit. More

A smoky drink with notes of lime from Rickhouse in San Francisco. More

A smoky lemonade cocktail from Mitchell Lagneaux of Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco. More

This drink from Jbird Cocktails in NYC is all about scent—a fragrant leaf of sage, smoky mezcal and savory anejo tequila. A tall ice cube allows you to smell the sage before you take a sip. More

Schrodinger's Cat was a thought-experiment postulating a simultaneous state of existence of non-existence. For some reason, this led me to pair Mezcal and Bourbon. Remember, a cocktail is both perfect and undrinkable—until you actually taste it. More

An apertif style cocktail, this Last Word variant replaces gin with smoky mezcal. In lieu of a maraschino element, floral orange notes are introduced via Combier. Chartreuse forward, the drink lingers on the soft, and bitter citrus finish with all sorts of smoky, funky complexity in between. More

The Oaxaca Old Fashioned takes one of the greatest drinks in the mixological canon and gives it a south-of-the-border spin with reposado tequila and mezcal. Rich, smoky and spicy, this is an exceptional adaptation of a venerable classic. More

This White Chocolate-Mezcal Ice Cream is a wonderful and cooling way to end a week of inspired recipes from Rick Bayless, and a flavor combination that I'm pretty sure only he could come up with. More