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 Tobala is made from the family’s estate grown “capon”, fully mature, Tobala magueyes that are 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 45% ABV Tobala mezcal that has hints of butterscotch and bubble gum and a sweet, smoky 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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chipesguerra
3 reviewsCream and vanilla flavoirs with spicy tones. Pleasantly smooth with the signature Mezcal smoke to end. Enjoyable neat!
Zack Klamn
542 reviewsNose – Light cream and powdered sugar. A slight garden soil aroma.
Palate – Green and earthy at first. Overpowering smoked gruyere middle. Finish is ashy and bitter with an ethanol harshness. Quite hot for 45% ABV.
COak
228 reviewsWas plesantly suprised with this one. Nose has sweet mint. On the palate I definitely get the Christmas cookies, chocolate, mint and pine.
Jonny
705 reviewsBatch E-0124 form 2019. Sweet and spicy aromas. The nose has notes of gingerbread, Christmas cookies, menthol, fresh mint, and sweet pine. The palate has notes of menthol, ginger root, brown sugar, toffee, custard, and vanilla. Really interesting Tobala.