El Rey Zapoteco is one of Oaxaca’s oldest artisanal mezcal brands that still produces its mezcal entirely in-house.
About this mezcal
El Rey Zapoteco Tepeztate is made from fully mature, wild Tepeztate agaves cut by hand with machete and hoe and cooked using oak wood in an underground conical oven made of river rocks covered with soil. The cooked agaves are crushed by horse-driven Chilean quarry tahona. The crushed agave fibers are fermented in open air pine vats using natural yeasts. The fermented agave is distilled twice in copper stills to yield a 48% ABV Tepeztate mezcal that hits all the right notes. After many turns and twists, you are hit with a zing of citrus zest and a long finish.
El Rey Zapoteco Mezcal
One of Oaxaca’s oldest artisanal mezcal brands that still produces its mezcal in-house, El Rey Zapoteco was founded in 1960 by Don Serafín Hernandez Blas in Santiago Matatlán. Today, the business is run by the family matriarch Doña Juana and Don Serafin’s sons. Caretakers of agave fields that routinely yield some of Oaxaca’s largest agaves, the Hernandez family are faithful stewards of production techniques that remain the same as they were at their founding.
Learn more about El Rey Zapoteco:
- El Rey Zapoteco: The Matron of Mezcal in Oaxaca on Culinary Backstreets
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COak
210 reviewsNose is floral and green. Taste is minty, piney with a peppery finish.
Zack Klamn
511 reviewsNose – Floral. Green pepper.
Palate – Serrano level spicy with some of that green pepper. Chalky, drywall note. Heat is up there… damn is this spicy (in a good way but on tetering on a bit too much). It’s strength is the sweet and smoky balance throughout. There’s a theme here but a lasting spiciness (coupled with vanilla sweet) in the finish and aftertaste.
razorbackmike
140 reviewsvery nice .the nose and palate have that typical tep profile.lots of green pepper/veggie sweetness.you have to give the nose a minute or two.it doesnt jump out of the bottle as soon as it is opened.the palate is sweeter than most teps i have had but it is a strong definition of this agave.very mellow with very little bite.some reserved smoke and medium finish.excellent price point.very balanced.lovely mezcal.the kind you want to continue consuming.