A couple months back I had the pleasure of tasting my way through nine different espadins in the sub-$40 range for a story for Liquor.com. Naturally, I couldn’t go too in-depth, so I’ve decided to further highlight some of these mezcals. First up, two of my favorites: Fidencio's one-two punch—Unico and Clásico.

Fidencio Clásico is without a doubt the spirit that really set me on my current track of delving deep into mezcal. It wasn’t the first mezcal I’d had—not by a mile—but it was the one I found myself curiously going back to from the get-go, for neat and mixed tastings—an affordable place to dip my toe in and one to which I’ll happily return.

First, though, let’s discuss Unico, the brand’s sin humo (without smoke) offering. The story goes that maestro mezcalero Enrique Jimenez built a special radiant-heat oven at Fidencio’s palenque in Santiago Matatlán to craft Unico, a mezcal made to showcase the flavors of their estate-grown espadín without the influence of smoke. As you might expect, Unico is a strongly agave-forward spirit, but it’s also herbacious, nutty, and pleasantly light (at just 40% ABV). It mixes beautifully in just about any white-spirit cocktail, and doesn’t knock you on your ass—which is great for those looking to maintain some semblance of control after a night of drinking.

Ever since writing the Liquor.com piece, Unico has grown on me a great deal, and it’s quickly found its way into a number of cocktails for its easy mixability. It’s just the right amount of sweet, the agave really shines through, it’s got a super-clean finish, and for friends who aren’t exactly used to spending $90 on a bottle of madrecuixe, Unico is a really, really good first toe-dip into the pool of mezcal. It aids those friends to grasp the progression from decent tequila to mezcal, and they quickly come away as fans.

With Clásico, maybe what’s even more prevalent to me, at least on the nose, is less the presence of smoke and more the prominence of alcohol. Not that 46.2% is going to rob anyone of their vision, but it’s a noticeable jump from Unico’s restrained 40%. Clásico takes on a peppery, spicy minerality that gives it a lovely complexity. It’s definitely not as sweet as Unico, and its higher booze content provides some gentle heat, but it really punches through nicely in a citrus cocktail. Along with Wahaka Joven Espadin and Del Maguey Vida, this one spells perfection in a basic mezcal margarita (which, at least in my opinion, is the gold standard for how well a mezcal mixes in cocktails)—and it is great on its own as well. There’s something eminently approachable about all of Fidencio’s spirits that I appreciate more and more as I introduce folks to mezcal, and with their super-affordable pechuga and the addition of four raicillas (from La Venenosa) to their distribution portfolio, it’s hard to argue the company’s lineup. Winners all around.