Recent reviews

BATCH NUMBER MIG-INA-003, 50.2%, BOTTLE: 104

Nose – Funky and cheesy wood; jalapeño poppers, musty attic, yogurt, cream cheese, latex paint, orange oil, and some wet wood.

Palate – Very zesty and fresh, such a contrast from the nose; green bell peppers, mild jalapeños, ripe oranges, carrots, sweet ginger, and some funky heat like black pepper with licorice.

Finish – Sour vegetables; root beer, cucumbers soaked in vinegar, and some savory funkiness like hoisin sauce.

Really good! Such a bright, fresh and interesting flavor. The sips keep you coming back for more! Outside of Oaxaca, mezcales from Michoacan (and also Guerrero), have been some of my favorites thus far! Always a lot of zest and tang.

March 2023, 100 liter
Butterscotch notes all through this one.
Oily, sweet, peppery, and also with some dried banana/fruit notes. Ending has a hot touch, but diminishes quickly. The finish lingers very nicely almost like a sweeter oily coating in the mouth. As mentioned by another review these salmianas def carry a bit more ‘weight’ than the ones I’ve had from Durango (which are also great). Super delightful and I look forward to diving into more mezcal from SLP!
Review: #221

Batch 09
Smell has some deep bubblegum, pine, earth. Dark fruits.
Powerful and full taste – more pine, candy, peppermint. Only complaint may be it seems a bit hot for just 46.8%. Really great alto!
Review #220

This was a really good bottle. The price point is fantastic for such a complex ensamble. However, the taste wasn’t as diverse as I imagined it would’ve been with this man magueys. With that being said, I found this bottle to be really good! For me this one tasted a bit darker, with more chocolate notes coming through, which I attribute to the barril. However, def some grassy/green notes from the karwinskii dominance here. Some perfumey notes on the back end. I really dig this bottle and would recommend

This was a delicious spirit, with tastes unlike anything I’ve experienced before. It generates memories and visions rather than anything you can compare it to, but I’ll attempt it.

The smell is amazing. At first kind of funky, earthy and mineral, I feel like I’m riding on a horse, smelling its sweat, its saddle, then settling down near an old campfire. Its funky, juicy, and addictive. I just can’t get enough. It reminds me of something from when I was younger, and I think it might be “new toy smell” as strange as that sounds.
The palate is right up there with some of the best sotol or bacanora I’ve had, smoky with a bit of cheese and just juicy goodness. The same rubbery “new toy” fragrance comes through in the taste, but in a totally good way. It’s a wild spirit that makes you feel like you’re lying under the stars, looking at the Milky Way with thunderheads flashing on the horizon. I definitely want more of this.

I’m trying to get the same notes as others here, but it’s just not happening for me.

Nose: From the first whiff, I’m mainly getting Ivory Soap. My dad used that growing up, so it’s ingrained in my senses. It doesn’t smell like any arroqueno I’ve ever had, and I’ve had many. It has a sour funk much like a salmiania or alto. Very much like a bubbling lye soap bucket.
Palate: Like taking a bite out of Ivory Soap, at first. Not very pleasant. However, inside of there I get other tastes – juniper berries, pepper, maybe some pine. It also kind of tastes like you’d imagine an industrial plastic bin would taste, which this was fermented in. No smoke or rubbery arroqueno tastes at all.

I’m shocked this is an arroqueno, and wondering if it has a lot to do with the water and/or the plastic bins it was fermented in. Not my thing.

lot3125xx004 NOM O174X
fairly spicy upfront, a hint of smoke, then quiet agave flavor, long smooth finish

lot 192 NOM O134X
corn syrup, vanilla, honey, hint of oak and cinnamon. smooth palate and long finish.

lote bg050 NOM O675X 40abv. 2.5-3 is a proper rating for this one. gently smoky, with agave fruit and short finish. fair for the price ($33)

Distilled 4/ 2023 50.9% 100 liters. Sample on 8 / 2024. Aromas out of the bottle are different on this one I get sweet cotton candy, sweet corn, brown sugars and sweet peppermint. No smoke. And just a little bit of alcoholic aroma. After the bottom opened up song, I get sour citrus and some kind of green bean like smell on the aroma. These hid there ABVs really well. Flavors and balance on this one is really toned down and I find it to be very enjoyable. This has has the typical jalapeno cream cheese herbal flavors, but in a much more subtle way that I find incredibly enjoyable, not so much of a punch in the face with this, one more like a fine experience. Out of the 4 experienced from this producer. This is my favorite. It seems the most integrated, multi layered and not leaning towards, the more spicy side. But more balance. I will say I get a nice sweet corn like moonshine flavor on this one? That I haven’t experienced any mezcal before Which when added with the green agave flavor I found very enjoyable almost like an a elote.

Gonna agree with Forpowder on the 5 star rating here. Damn, I really like this one a lot! I didn’t look at the percentage breakdown of the magueys until after my initial taste and was hit by the chino flavor first, which makes sense because it’s 40% of the ensamble. The chino flavor here is actually very reminiscent of a michoacan style chino, fruity like starburst with some underlying cigar smoke. The cuerno then comes through and brings in almost an americana style flavor profile and is a bit of a smoked meat style flavor profile. End of the taste and lingering flavor is that of the verde, a bit more green and sour. The longer you taste and the longer you sniff, the more it changes. Dynamic is a great word for this mezcal. As I’m writing this review, more of the smoke flavor is poking through– bbq style. This will probably be incredible once it airs out and ages more.

Distilled 3/2023 100 liters 48.9% Sampled on 8/ 2024. Aroma’s out of the bottle on this one. Are soft chili peppers, Jalapeno and sweetness of roasted agave. Just a touch of smoke on this one. And the alcohol is nowhere near what’s the 48.9 percent would lead you to believe. A little bit of spiciness and heat on the aroma on the end as this agave is known for. Flavors followed a suit with some of the strongest jalapeno cream cheese, sotol and spearmint flavors of the bunch. This one’s definitely got some heat and burn on the finish.
But it also fades fairly quickly.
Very woodsy, licorice, Minty and it finishes super clean with a citrus like finish like lime rind or lemon rind. Sort of oily and mouth coating also. Kind of like salty fish oil. But the flavor fades. I think this one would benefit from some time airing out in the bottle and the heat would go away.

LOTE: 36, 46.12%, 200ml

Nose – orange, lemon, agave, light agave sweetness, light alcohol, very light smoke

Palate – Lemon blast, sweet, then very light smoke.

Mouthfeel – light

Not great but a solid mezcal

Love love this mezcal. Very approachable. Very well balanced. Only reason I give it less than 5 stars is because I love the other variations more. I very much enjoy the slight vanilla and chocolate notes with hints of ripe agave and combinations of citruses.

Was a bit disappointed with this mezcal, seams very basic in flavor notes with a heavy stress on the alcohol after-taste. Flavor notes felt dimmed down with a purpose, and smoke comes through a lot for me, very sharply. Not a favorite but I can see it mixing with cocktails well.

I love this mezcal, this is the mezcal that got me into drinking mezcal. It’s simple and a go to, especially in cocktails. Big fan of the brand in general.

I love this Mezcal — because it’s delicious, sure, but also because it contradicts what you think you know about Mezcal. There is *zero* smoke used in making this spirit. Even the stills operate with steam. And the agave is cooked with steam, too. And every visit to this beautiful fabrica is wonderful!

First time trying maguey Cuerno and this one is really cool! The experience from smell to taste is really complex and the flavor changes drastically as the taste goes on! The only other mezcal I’ve had that transitions in taste like this is maguey Carne from minas— the beginning is far different from the end. On the nose the initial whiff is very much like a Salmiana, green vegetables, jalapeño, sweetness but this one is different in that there’s almost a meatiness underlying in the nose. The palate starts off like many Salmianas I’ve had and follows the nose but it becomes more musty and meaty as the taste goes on. Ends back with the green and sweetness but with some
Floral tones mixed in. A bit mineraly and oily but extremely complex. Really, really enjoyed sampling this!

I remember I was at Semillon in Cabo the first time I tried Salmiana and I was immediately drawn to how different the flavor profile was. This verde brings me back to that tasting. This is really fantastic stuff. Thicker mouthfeel than many other Durango mezcals I’ve had and the nose is extremely fragrant, funky (like cheese), and vegetal. On the palate, I’m definitely getting some jalapeño, green pepper, mint, pine, and funk. Perfumey aromas and flavor. Almost a bit of artificial grape flavor poking through at times. The smoke is really balanced and there’s essentially no burn on this. Really complex and I’d expect that from how old the plant was at maturity. Love this!

My favorite of the three expressions from this brand. It’s not your usual vegetal Tepeztate. It’s more!
The aroma is sensational! It’s like being at a farmers market. There’s lots of veggies and ripe fruit and green apple.
The taste surprised me by the initial sweetness, then followed by plenty of veggies, pepper, and mint. The longer, I kept it in my mouth, the more it evolved.
The finish is long, complex with some light fruitiness that although unexpected was quite wonderful!
JMM-tep1. 47%
Special shout out to El Dawg the sample! if anyone has questions about this great brand, he knows tons.