Phil Ward was an early mezcal evangelist. He was one of the first to recognize mezcal's adaptability in spirit-forward cocktails. His Oaxaca Old Fashioned was created in New York at Death & Co. in 2007. It combined a tequila base and a portion of strong, smoky Mexican mezcal to enhance the classic drink. This quickly became a modern legend. However, he had more success allowing mezcal to replace the base spirit in his classic blueprint, the Division Bell! Mezcal takes the place of Gin, and boom, the division bell was created.