NETA Tepextate – Aniceto García

About this destilado de agave

NETA 2020 Tepextate from Aniceto García was a collaboration effort between NETA and Mezcalistas. Per Mezcalistas: In preparing this batch, Aniceto selected 25 Tepextate plants he had been monitoring over the past several years. Unlike some other folks, Aniceto harvests Tepextate en guía that has matured but has not yet started to shoot its flowering stalk. Through the accumulation of generations of knowledge and nearly 50 years of hands-on experience, he knows that this agave is to be worked differently than other species in order to extract a maximum amount of aromas, flavors, and overall yield. Once cooked, he knows that Tepextate must be processed quickly, unlike most other agaves. As soon as the piñas are cool enough to touch, they are moved to a wooden chopping block, and split into smaller chunks with a machete. Aniceto uses a wooden mallet known as a mazo to macerate the cooked agave before immediately transferring the fibers and juices into a Monztezuma cypress sabino wood fermentation vat. Dry fermentation for Tepextate, according to the recipe, is never longer than 24 hours, and once water is added, the mash is pulled in 48-72 hours, after careful monitoring, and well before all the sugars have been converted to alcohol. If it sounds odd, well, the proof is in the glass, so to speak.

Aniceto’s particular distillation style is also quite unique. He uses the same materials and techniques shown to him by his grandfather: a copper boiler pot and cap, fitted with a refrescadera cooling jacket. Unlike some other methods in the vicinity, Aniceto fills the refrescadera three times in each round of distillation. A select cut of high proof liquid from this first round, which he refers to as shishe macizo, is separated and used to lower the final alcohol content of the heads and hearts cuts selected from the rectification in the second distillation. To complete this 40L carga, as this quantity is known, he used about a liter and a half of shishe macizo to combine with a mix of about 38.5L of puntas and corazón, the perfect amount to create a gorgeous bouquet of aromas, and display a perfect cordon cerrado of bubbles when put to the test.

NETA

NETA is a colloquial word in Mexico that translates to “the real deal” or “the truth”. Since 2012, the brand has worked closely with several small, family producers and a cooperative of twelve palenqueros from the southern valleys and hills of Miahuatlán, Oaxaca. The region has preserved its reputation for producing some of the finest mezcales and agave spirits anywhere in Mexico. The team behind NETA presents a carefully curated selection of extraordinary spirits that would otherwise never be found outside of its place of origin.

A note about NETA labels: The total bottle count written on the front label might be less than the total batch size. Batches may be split between Mexico, Europe, and the US; the handwritten bottle count represents the number of bottles imported into a particular country.

Learn more about NETA:

• NETA – Spirit Distilled from Agave on the K&L Wines Spirits Journal blog
• NETA is finally here on Mezcalistas