Love tequila cocktails or sampling a variety of smoky mezcals? Denver’s cocktail connoisseurs are eager to introduce you to sotol the next time you sidle up to the bar. Earthy and herbaceous, and sometimes kissed with smoke, the desert spirit actually dates back 800 years to Chihuahua, Mexico, where sotol plants were roasted in cooking holes, and the juice was fermented and then served like beer.