Maguey Melate Inaequidens – Raul Pedraza Padilla

Review #79: nose is very pungent with fruity yogurt, cheesy, green apple jolly rancher, strawberry, key lime pie, mango, vinegar and sharpie. The palate is all of the same, a whole bunch of sour fruits with a lactic funkiness, and with more vegetals as it opens up like roasted asparagus, spinach, and mild earthiness with a nice bright adicidy on the finish.

I just love this. I’m a fan of funky cheesy stuff and this definitely hits the spot. That funk mixed with the fruits is next level. It’s definitely like a sour yogurt mixed with fruits. Big and pungent all throughout, this is an inaequidens lovers bottle.

Nose: Vanilla Greek yogurt, tangy lemonade, soil and earthy, creek water, kombucha, blue cheese

Palate & Finish: More sour and bitter on the front end. Lemon sour patch kid. Like biting into a grapefruit or limeade, tart berries, it’s overall pretty tart but not in a bad way, I find it less cheesy on the palate than the nose would suggest and more bitter citrus. Finish has that signature Inaequidens leather and tobacco, more rubbery, soured green tea, bitter burnt coffee, some lactic elements too

Overview: This is a solid Inaequidens and one I think many would be happy with. Part of me wonders if it would benefit from being rested in glass like the Jose Rafael batch. It’s tighter, more bitter and sour. The finish is almost rubbery with a burnt coffee element. While I think a handful would prefer this over the glass rested batch, I definitely find myself in the glass rested camp.

batch: RAU-INA-001
abv: 45%
Nose: nice lactic, cheesy smell initially, then I’m getting some chalk and granite. Also getting some guava and tropical fruits.
Taste: Nice meatiness up front and beautiful overripe fruits – passion fruit, pineapple, and strawberries. Less lactic notes in the taste than in the smell. It has a nice earthy, mineral note in the finish. Great balance between sweet, funky, grassy, and depth of fruits.
Overall: 9.0/10 Love this one, and I keep getting different flavors popping out after each sip.

Nose: mossy, a little musty/funky, vegetal, grass, cheese, slightly cooling, some mango, honey, and other fruit sweetness cuts through the dense vegetation but I can’t put my finger on it.. After I finish my glass there’s a meaty, jerky aroma as well as bay leaves left behind for long long time.

Palate: at first sip the flavors reminded me of barbicide and aftershave (though it may be that tennis ball flavor Rakhal was recalling), fresh cut grass, white pepper, soft cheese, mineral, cream cheese, ; slightly bitter, thick full body, no heat, but rather… Bright acidity? It tickles my palate rather than burns it. After the vapors dissipate I’m left with a grassy mineral taste for a good while.

I’m a real big fan of how bright, funky and weird this one is. I keep going back for more because I have never tasted anything like this and I lack the words to accurately describe how all these flavors and aromas meld together. I read the debrief before tasting so I wonder if I’m actually tasting that wet vegetation or if it’s the power of suggestion…

When I first opened my bottle of this, it was super lactic! Like Roquefort cheese, which I happen to love. I also got some intense over-ripe fruit flavors like a giant pile of tropical fruits rotting in the sun. After being opened for a few hours the lactic flavors almost completely went away, and the fruits really smoothed out a lot. Now I’m getting some really strong new tire rubber and freshly opened can of tennis balls flavors. I’m also getting flavors that remind me of key limes, juicy fruit gum, and white TicTac’s. A bit of a cake frosting finish with just a touch of that Roquefort cheese. I have a feeling this is one of those Mezcals that’s going to keep changing, if I don’t finish the bottle first.