Lamata Castilla Durango is produced by a Tepehuano family in the mountainous region near Mezquital, Durango.
About this destilado de agave
Lamata Castilla Durango is produced by Maximino Cruz using maguey Castilla (Agave angustifolia). Maximino Cruz is part of a Tepehuano family near Mezquital, Durango. The Tepehuanes are an indigineous people who live in Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit and Zacatecas. The Tepehuano language is divided into three major branches with Southern Tepehuano being spoken in the municipalities of Mezquital and Pueblo Nuevo. This area is in a very mountainous region between Durango City, Mazatlan Sinaloa and Tepic Nayarit and unfortunately is currently being disputed by the Cartel de Sinaloa and the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, making it very difficult for the people who live in the area to go about their business in a normal way.
The agaves in this spirit were cooked in an underground pit oven, milled by hand with an axe, fermented in pine tubs, and double distilled in a copper/wood viejo still.
Lamata
Lamata (formerly named Amormata) is the for-export label of Nacion de Las Verdes Matas, a small unregistered brand started by Luis Loya many years ago. His goal is to share mezcal from Northern Mexico from places that are under-represented in the market. Luis has relationships with producers in Durango, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas among others.
The typical lot sizes of Lamata releases range from about 40 liters to 200 liters. The producers will continue to make about the same amount of spirits that they historically have in the past. Therefore, the brand will not bottle much more than a total of three to five thousand liters per year. Lamata is dedicated to promoting the “gusto historico”, the terroir, the liquid culture, and the history that is mezcal to people beyond the borders of the places where it is made.
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Jam
175 reviewsThis review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.
Review #119: sea salt, vanilla, mineraly, butter.
My partner said, “like really good water”. I’ll leave it up to you if that’s a good thing or not. I felt like I was missing something from this one.
Jonny
724 reviewsLot CAS-C 05/2019. Aromas of a stir-fry with ginger, tofu, bok choy, water chestnuts, and carrots. Agreed with other reviewers about the BBQ aesthetic on the palate. There are some additional notes of mustard seeds, oak, smoked peat, and sweet root vegetables. There’s also this Islay scotch type of character to this. Very nice.
Rakhal
424 reviews1oz sample. No batch number.
I love this one. It’s deep, dark, sweet, and woody. If I had a blindfold on I would have thought it was an aged Armagnac. Crazy! Root Beer, date syrup, Thompsons raisins, Armagnac, oak, allspice, nutmeg, tamarind, and guava paste. Whoever picks the batches for Lamata has a great palate, and is dedicated to finding truly unique Mezcals.
GreenspointTexas
385 reviewsAgree with Zack that there is some sort of bbq thing going on. Cumin, 5 spice, sweet baby rays sauce. I usually like my agaves more herbal or floral. This is fine, at least for a change of pace
Zack Klamn
542 reviewsNose – Bamboo chutes. Fresh ginger in soy sauce. Korean BBQ pork jerky. Savory sweetness to the nines!
Palate – This is more “amazing experience” driven rather than the flavors. An exceptional, quality hot and smoky build up that peaks after about 10 seconds. Very nice! Stays warm in the belly for a minute after. For me, the nose was more complex than the palate though.
I imagine this as perfect winter time, camp fire material. That said, I also reckon it would pair well sipping with a nice, ice cold bottle of suds.
Nose – Bamboo chutes. Fresh ginger in soy sauce. Korean BBQ pork jerky. Savory sweetness to the nines!
Palate – This is more “amazing experience” driven rather than the flavors. An exceptional, quality hot and smoky build up that peaks after about 10 seconds. Very nice! Stays warm in the belly for a minute after. For me, the nose was more complex than the palate though.
I imagine this as perfect winter time, camp fire material. That said, I also reckon it would pair well