We all know that tequila is big business — to the tune of $8 billion a year. According to Allied Market Research, the tequila market is expected to triple in the next seven years. And while tequila is challenging vodka and whiskey for overall domination (No. 1 and No. 2, respectively) of the market, its cousin (or forebearer) mezcal is coming on strong.

At $250 million in sales in 2022, mezcal might not be on the same playing field as tequila, but it’s certainly dominating in cocktail culture chic. Oaxacan Old Fashioneds and Mezcal Manhattans are appearing on cocktail menus everywhere. The combination of smoky and bitter is making headlines. How long will it be before someone combines the two in one product? That time is now.

“I think they complement each other much better on the marketing side,” says Oaxacan restaurateur, ultra-high-end premium mezcal maker and former Marin resident Joseph Gilbert. “Mezcal, as you know, is very hot right now, as well as amaro. Why not bring the two together and make a bunch of money?”

Gilbert produces rare small-batch agave distillates under the Cinco Sentidos brand as well as a deliciously smoky spicy chili liqueur under the Alma Tepec brand, both of which he serves at his El Destilado restaurants in Oaxaca.

“At my newer restaurant, we have started test runs of making our own amaro. There are so many cool and interesting ingredients here to work with that it makes it a lot of fun,” Gilbert says. “We do not use mezcal as our base. We are using a high-proof agricole-style rum from the Canada region in Oaxaca. We have talked about using mezcal made with the espadin agave as a base, but so far have not started the trial runs yet. This is done on a very small scale with no desire to ever export. We just sell bottles in our store, use them for cocktails here at the restaurant and sell to our friends who have bars here in Oaxaca.”

Bitters (amaro) have been used as medicine for centuries. Digestive bitters can still be found at most health food stores.

“As far as bittering agents go, there is a long history of different herbs, spices and barks used for ailments and cures for various types of sickness and disease,” Gilbert says. “Curanderas (folk healers) have been using them for centuries.”Another amaro, Fernet Branca, has been a Bay Area food scene staple for decades. But it surprises some people that Mexico, too, has a long history of bitters. Fernet Branca (a type of fernet, which is a style of amaro, and Branca is a company name) has been produced there since 1860.

Some companies have begun using mezcal as the base for their bitters, and these mezcal amaros are making their way into the U.S. market. Mezcal is typically strongly smoky as a result of the agave coming into direct contact with the smoke of the cooking fire. Tequila’s blue weber agave is insulated from that smoke in sealed ovens. That pronounced smoky taste difference can be a steep hill to climb in cocktails. A similar problem has been encountered with mixed cocktails using Islay scotch; the big powerful smoky flavor is quite dominant. One way this has been mitigated is by mixing mezcal with tequila 50/50 in traditional citrus cocktails (like Margaritas or Palomas) or by using mezcal in classic cocktails that use lesser proportions such as in a Negroni (instead of gin) or in an Old Fashioned with healthy dashes of bitters and sugar.

At the forefront of the amaro-mezcal combination is a Mexican company called Mezcal Amarás. They produce four distinct “amarás.” All are less smoky and lightly bitter, a combination long sought after in cocktails. It makes for a well-balanced satisfying drink right out of the bottle.

Three of its products use the heavyweight of mezcal agave, espardin, harvested at a younger age (eight years) and one uses cupreata, which takes longer to mature (12 years).

Mezcal Amarás’ products are lighter than one would anticipate, with more of the fresh green smoked vegetal flavor typical of mezcal, but accented with a perfumy, flowery bitterness. It is not mezcal, exactly, and it isn’t exactly amaro either, but the two come together beautifully. Expect to see more of these products on the market soon.

“If it tastes great, is actually 100% agave, and the people bottling and selling the final product are taking care of the people and the communities making the mezcal, then I am all for it,” Gilbert says.

And so are we.

More information on Mezcal Amarás can be found at mezcalamaras.com.

Jeff Burkhart is the author of “Twenty Years Behind Bars: The Spirited Adventures of a Real Bartender, Vol. I and II,” the host of the Barfly Podcast on iTunes and an award-winning bartender at a local restaurant. Follow him at jeffburkhart.net and contact him at jeffbarflyIJ@outlook.com