5 Sentidos Arroqueño y Espadin de Cuero – Alberto Martinez

About this destilado de agave

5 Sentidos Arroqueño y Espadin de Cuero from Alberto Martinez is made in Santa Catarina Albarradas, Oaxaca. The agaves in this mezcal were fermented in rawhides and distilled in small clay pots.

Batch PDEC01 was a batch pick for Pretty Decent Bar in Louisville, KY. The batch represents two “firsts:” the first time legendary mezcalero Alberto Martinez has distilled cooked agave Arroqueño, and the first time he used recently cured rawhide skins as fermenters at his palenque. The agaves were gifted to Alberto from a friend many years ago, and the rawhides were acquired in September 2023 in the village of Yalalag, Oaxaca. Alberto harvested both cultivated Espadín and Arroqueño that grew alongside each other on a south-facing slope at about 7,200 feet above sea level in his village of Santa Catarina Albaradas, Oaxaca. He cooked them as he normally does in an underground oven with oak firewood, crushed them by hand with wooden mallets, and allowed them to ferment in two uncured rawhide fermenters with spring water and encino de agua bark. The mash fermented for nine days before Alberto and his wife Yolanda took turns expertly distilling it in a series of six clay pot stills at their palenque, “La Escondida.”

5 Sentidos

5 Sentidos (or Cinco Sentidos) is named after the five senses that their mezcaleros use to produce their agave spirits. The producers of this mezcal do not use any model machinery or tools, being guided only by their senses throughout the production process. The brand was launched by El Destilado restaurant in centro Oaxaca. The restaurant is known for it’s creative menu, unique cocktails, and exception agave spirits. The brand is a curated tour of Mexico with a wide range of expressions that are made by some of the best mezcaleros in the region. Cinco Sentidos is uncertified mezcal and is labeled as “Destilado de Agave”.

Learn more about 5 Sentidos:

• Cinco Sentidos and El Destilado on Mezcal Reviews
• Santa María Ixcatlán: Rawhide Fermentation with Amando Alvarez on Mezcal Reviews
• What’s in A Name? on the K&L Wines Spirits Journal blog