title_body: Best way to consume Mezcal?
upvoted_answer: As you said, many of the traditions like salt &amp; lime are primarily used to disguise low-quality tequila and mezcal. If you're buying a reposado, añejo, or aged mezcal, you'll want to get the full aroma and flavor.
  
  The colder the drink, the less aroma you get. Room temperature is recommended by most distilleries. Using a snifter glass, as Jedicurt suggested, lets you warm the liquor a bit more with your body temperature, which releases even more of the aromatics.
  
  While I certainly know a lot of tequila and mezcal drinkers that add ice to their drinks -- I've been known to do it myself -- we'll generally add a single ice cube after taking that first big whiff to experience the aroma.
  
  While there are mezcals that have the "worm" (it's actually a caterpillar or larva) in the bottle, they're generally the ones you want to avoid if you're drinking for flavor.