Mal Bien Madrecuixe Puntas – Cortes

About this destilado de agave

Mal Bien Madrecuixe Puntas from Felipe Cortes was originally released in the US as part of Agave Mixtape Vol 4. Per Agave Mixtape:

It’s always a surprise to find a mezcalero sitting on more than a few liters of puntas that aren’t needed for some larger batch. In our experience, this usually means there’s a sad story about a jug of corazones that got spilled or a distillation that went wrong – something that prevented the puntas from getting mixed in with the rest of the distillate.

In this case, Felipe is a sharp old guy, and having seen how interested tourists and non-local visitors were when tasting the little bits of puntas he had around the palenque, he decided it might be worth reserving some to sell. He was correct.

Of course, keeping 60+ liters of 56.5% madrecuixe puntas on their own means there’s a much larger batch of 48% madrecuixe that didn’t get made. The Mal Bien team asked him how he decides which batches he wants to be sell as puntas instead of 48% spirits. “Usually, if there is a small amount of a type of maguey or if I have a little extra that doesn’t go in the oven with the rest, I think about doing something special with it.” In this case, that special something was a few garrafones of puntas, and a couple of pechugas made with remaining corazones and colas.”

Agave Mixtape

Agave Mixtape brings the best agave spirits together in one place – your place. Agave Mixtape is a subscription based service. Subscribers receive boxes with three 200ml bottles from three different brands – Lalocura, Mal Bien, and Neta (and maybe a few surprises) – filled with batches picked especially for Agave Mixtape, and not available anywhere else in the USA. Each box includes production notes on the batches, along with links to photos, and virtual tastings with the people behind the brands and the mezcaleros. You can subscribe directly from their website.

Mal Bien

Since 2016, the Mal Bien team has been traveling Mexico, driving off the map and into mountains filled with treacherous roads, police officers of questionable moral character, feral dogs, indigenous languages, narcos, ancient relics, machete wielding protestors, insect based meals, mudslides, blockades, corrupt politicians, and many of the world’s kindest, funniest, most brilliant people. In addition to some hard to believe stories, they’ve connected with a wide variety of traditional producers, whose mezcal is now bottled and exported under the Mal Bien name.