Recent reviews

Date: 04-22
Lot: T3-17
Bottle: 30-1400
ABV: 44.4
Starts off bad with a Smokey band aid smell buried in vegetable clay. But once you get past, or get used to it, you begin to enjoy the terroir. Initial sweet agave taste with a nice earthiness riding throughout. Agave sweetness stays in back, with a nice heat on finish that cools nicely leaving the sweet earth tasty. You start to detect those tastes in the smell, making that better with each sip.

Lot RL-JAB-01. Slightly lactic with earthy elements and aromas. On the nose, I find notes of soft cheeses, bread yeast, peat, hemp rope, chipotle, and dried fish. The palate is soft and delicate. Notes of salami and hard deli meats, cheddar cheese, seaweed, fried soy, and raw oats. This is a clean view of the agave with a touch of clay/earth from the clay pot distillation.

Lot RL-SRN-06. Clean nose, especially for a mezcal distilled in clay. Slight aromas of parmesan cheese, soft cream, old shoe polish, and a bit vanilla malt. The palate is also very clean and clear with agave flavors. Sometimes clay distillation can take over the profile, and that’s not happening here. The palate has more notes of malt, pepper, cloves, caramel, vanilla, sandalwood, and cork.

Of the two Inaquidens for the last MM delivery, I liked this one more. I am liking the mezcal from Michoacan more and more. This was very balanced and nice to sip.
The aroma is ok with some good earth and fresh mint and thyme.
The taste is a little hot, slight brine and overall good.
The finish is medium in duration but good.

Series 7 in 2023

Delicious cuishe, both in the nose and palate. Green and vegetal, you can taste the essence of the karwinskii and the trunk of the agave. Grapey and smoky and delicious.

Series 7 in 2023

Nose: fruity, bright and citrusy. Pineapple and lemon. Spicy cheese funk.

Palate: candied fruit, dried papaya flavors. Quickly morphs into cherries. Seriously… Massive amounts of cherry pie. Like a cherry pie just hit me in the face. This is almost too much like candy. Dangerously delicious!

Nose: bright green peppers and citrus, orange rind, fruit loops, wet earth and stone,
Palate: WOW! What a smooth, fruity explosion! Sweet and juicy and virtually no alcohol taste. This is a game changer. Dangerously good. A little karwinskii-forward with coppery and woody notes balanced by fruit and earth, wrapped in grape, toast and tobacco flavors.

Lot OO-TPX-14. Aromas of green pepper, serrano, baker’s yeast, and some sharp industrial cleaning product type notes. The palate is sweet and warm with notes of smoked jalapeno cheese, leather, artificial cherry flavoring, and dried mint leaves. I really wanted to love this as I’m a big fan of Onofre’s mezcal. On paper, this seems like it should be a great Tep, but it just doesn’t quite do it for me. It’s not bad by any means, and maybe others will like it. It just falls a bit flat for me.

Lot RA-TOP-01. Aromas of orange soda, grapefruit, and Hawaiian Punch. The palate is also quite fruity. Notes of orange soda, Pepto-Bismol, pineapple, and a bit of smoke. This is just a total fruit bomb. I get very little of the Pechuga meatiness, so if you like non-meaty pechuga mezcals, this is the one for you.

Incredible. So smoothe and easy to drink.

Lot RA-FITZ-06. Deep and earthy aromas of dark chocolate, coffee beans, peanut oil, moringa leaves, and sea salt. The palate mostly matches the nose with that same rich nutty and chocolatey character. The peanut butter chocolate elements of this are particularly strong on the palate. Additional notes of caramel and toffee. This evolves in the glass and is worth several pours. I’m really enjoying this.

Lot RA-ETM-01. Smells AMAZING. Aromas of fresh pineapple-orange juice, mango, and melon. The palate is also very fruity with notes of grilled pineapple, green mango, cantaloupe, brown sugar, and smoldering tobacco. This is full and immediately approachable. It’s something I’d reach for often.

Lot JL-TOB-01. Bright, floral, and fruity nose. Aromas of geraniums, coconut oil, hempseed, pine, raspberry, blackberry, and orange. The palate is soft with notes of mineral rock salt, raw honey, oak, coconut, and fresh flowers. Medium body. A little heat on the finish. Overall this is delicate and enjoyable.

Holy shit. I want what blumbibe is smoking. Completely nails his review. Getting that breading, parmensean. Fresh herbs, fruit, I get peaches and strawberries, floral.

Palate. Typical Miahuatlan mineral, clay. Herbal, vegatal with the karwinski. Such a great bottle. Like blumbibe said, if you find a bottle, pounce!

Batch PRES22 – Released in DC Market. ABV 48.9%

Nose: Nose is wild, super vegetal and grassy, plenty of mesquite, also this like almost medicinal note, it takes up the whole room, lumber department of home depot

Palate & Finish: Burger covered in stone ground mustard, savory but slightly sweet, the sweetness is tangy and citrus, cedar plank salmon skin, grilled peppers on a wood skewer, it’s sweet but not super fruity, soft mango and guava for a split second before going back to wood and herbs, grilled carrots and corn. Finish is smoky, burnt peppers, light honey, the medicinal element is back but more mineral water like this time. It’s like a popsicle stick, natural (herbal) cough syrup, then basil and sage blast

Overall: Like many unique mezcals it’s uniqueness starts to draw you in and tough to rate. It’s got so much going on and so much complexity. It also beautifully ties together it’s different elements to make the whole. Great stuff.

Lot 100, 46% abv., no bottle info

Picked up a 375 ml bottle at Louie’s Liquor in Azusa, CA. Creamsicle and white peach on the nose, lots of sweetness. Strong heat upfront, flavors come on the backend, red hots, a bit of creaminess, and stewed apples. Lots of karwinskii flavors, some of those fall fruits shining through and hints of baked yams or sweet potatoes. There may be something to Jonny’s tobacco and hay notes as well.

batch XBP04 -17 bottle 949/1600 49.4% Maestro Basilio Pacheco rated on 9/2023. Aromas out of the bottle are dark fruit brown sugar cinnamon allspice everything on the dark heavy sweet side. And something a little sour in there. Taste follows the suit with a lot of brown notes over ripe fruit but nothing tropical no smoke. Very thick and mouth coating no real alcohol present once again something brown and sour with some kind of sweetness.

batch XAOLS-18 47.8% bottle 267/300 rated on 9/2023 Maestro Alberto Ortiz. Aromas are holy shit this is on a different level. herb garden dill oregano mint and cinnamon that goes on for ever! no smoke very mouth coating. Pink lozenger candy. has a very warm feeling to it like something you’d want to curl up with on a cold night. honeydew mellon

Lot 0322, 46% abv

Review #59: nose is eucalyptus, honey, chlorine, milk chocolate, and anise.
Palate has more eucalyptus, honey, milk chocolate, milk, anise, and a campfire with smoked meats.

The flavors and aromas are pretty gentle here. I do enjoy the profile but I just wish there were more of it. This is decent but it doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Lot E2019206, 45% abv

Review #58: nose is a bit light with predominantly notes of honey. The palate has milk chocolate, orange peel, and honey.

This is okay. If anything, it’s just boring. The nose is really tame, so much so that I really had a hard time smelling anything at all honestly. Only if I put it in my hands could I smell something. The palate is also pretty light overall. There’s nothing I would say is bad about the flavors, but it’s all pretty plain.