Recent reviews

0818FRM
46.69 % ABV
Warming initial nasal impact.
Nose starts off with BBQ sauce, honey, pickle, asparagus, fennel and dill tops. Cooked agave.
Oily soft mouthfeel with sufficient heat.
Very vegetal and drying on the palate. The asparagus that was picked up on the aroma continues here. Dried herbs and some green pepper (reminds me of Verde) follow. Light ash smoke, but not overpowering. Wow, after a few more sips, some of the BBQ sauce sweetness makes an appearance with Mike’s Hot Honey lingering on the med long finish. A very satisfying Espadin at a moderate price (approx $60 NY)

Very bright and green aromas: Green peppers, fresh asparagus, jalapeno, under-ripe habanero, and a slight touch of cheddar cheese. The palate is also extremely green, a little watery, but not overwhelmingly so. The palate mostly matches the nose with notes of jalapeno cheddar cheese, green bell peppers, cream of asparagus soup, and chalky minerals. This is really enjoyable but not something I’d reach for regularly. It’s 100% worth a taste. Lote MMDN 004? It could be 001 at the end of lote number, but tough to tell. Bottle 3329.

Jabalí became really popular in 2017 but it seems to have cooled off a bit in recent years. I think it is because it is difficult to create a great mezcal from this unruly plant – the yield is also quite small. This is a good one, maybe one of the great ones. The nose is like sweet pho broth. On the palate, the fresh clay and burnt soap notes go well together. There is a baking spice zest here that is a bit tannic at first but softens out after sitting in the glass. I really like this brand and producer, the first bottle I purchased was the Jabali.

This is interesting and complex. Aromas of fresh day lilies, root vegetables freshly pulled form the ground (like freshly picked carrots that still have the dirt on them). The palate has good minerality with notes of caramel, chocolate, smoky campfire, and cooking brown sugar.

My favorite of the 4 ensambles. Aromas of sour fruit, artificial sour cherries, cantaloupe, melons, and sugary Sour Patch Kids. The palate is slightly buttery and more viscous than the other ensambles. Notes of caramel, parmesan cheese, jasmine, and Mexican vanilla bean.

Aromas on this are much less lactic than Ensamble 1. This has aromas of fresh flowers, confectionary sugar, baby powder, and freshly squeezed lemons. The palate mostly matches the nose with additional hints of cucumber, black pepper, and dry maple leaves.

Aromas of light soft cheeses, vinegar, pickled vegetables, and fresh cucumber. The palate has notes of anis, candied apples, sweet cream, parmesan cheese, and cracked pepper. It’s interesting that so many others loved this. While I didn’t dislike it per se, this was my least favorite of the 4 ensambles.

Basically, tasteless garbage. Not even as good as a decent tequila. They’ll try to sell this to tourists in Mexico, who really don’t know what Mezcal is.

The nose contains very juicy madrecuishe smells mixed with fruit such as pineapple, cherry and orange, as well as earth and ash.

The palate is buttery smooth with virtually no burn, madrecuishe flavors of wood and grass and earth with a very fruity aftertaste mixed with peppers and smoke. I would compare it to the Vago madrecuishe except that it’s a bit more fruity and the smoothness mellows out the flavor somewhat.

It also has that intangible quality of some really fine mezcals, that turns this into more than just a taste, but a whole experience.

Very fragrant and herbaceous nose mixed with alcohol, classic tepeztate flavors with creamy jalapeño and agave on the palate mixed with earthy soul, with a significant amount of burn. Middle of the road tepeztate for me.

It does have a bit of a creamy mouthfeel, but the overall flavors are a bit subdued and mild compared to other karwinskii varietals I’ve had. Spearmint, wet earth, and a bit of cleaning product. Not a bad mezcal but a far cry from the greats.

Well. There are not that many foul flavours. Aromas are very subdued and all flavours fade away in a split second. Not suitable for even cocktails as it adds nothing, but at least the poor quality is more about a lack of flavours than tasting really bad.

If you have a collection of sipping Mezcal, you must have a bottle of this in your collection. Smoky but not overbearing with just the right amount of alcohol heat, it comes off more like a done Cognac than a Mezcal. This is a bottle that you keep for straight sipping on special occasions. Slight vanilla and complex heavy fruit notes – excellent Mezcal!

Bought this for about 20 bucks at WalMart – I should have known better. This is a vile drink, it tastes medicinal, strong iodine taste and hardly any smoke. I tried mixing a Mescalita with it using agave nectar, fresh lime, fresh mandarin and Cointreau and it was basically a complete waste of all those other nice ingredients. If you like this Mezcal, then do yourself a favor and try several others because you are unlikely to find another one with as many off tastes as this. Of the 400 Conejos in the name, I always end up with one that was run over by a truck and picked dry by buzzards.

Delicate Karwinkii forward mezcal with a soap-funk Jabali finish. Vanilla rock candy. Orange peel. Tasty and authentic.

batch: ESPLOG001
bottles: 050 + 052 /246
abv: 49.15%

tropical fruit smoothie;
fresh cypress, pine needles;
model paint / glue;
diet coke, artificial sweetener;
serrano pepper

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.

LOT J-02-E-22
ABV: 50.5%
Nose: bubble gum, sweet & fruity, slight acetone
Palate: grass, earth, minty heat
Finish: herbal tea, mild smoke, salinity, long lingering heat
Notes: not my favorite Vago bottle. Joel’s espadin comes off as a bit hot compared to the higher proof Emigdio Jarquin offering. Don’t get me wrong, it’s enjoyable… but I think I’d like it more if I had not tried any other Vago. All the fruit on the nose is totally absent in the palate. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from picking up the Joel Barriga espadin but there are better ~$50 bottles. not disappointed, but definitely not wow’d overall.
edit: added half a star, bottle has opened up a bit, flavor is definitely sweeter & more mellow than initial tasting

48.9% ABV batch

Nose: Vanilla, cream covered mangoes, limeade, honeysuckle

Palate: Vanilla ice cream on the front, Creamy milk chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, banana skins, fruity light, dessert peppers, slight green on the backend, like carrots or sweet bell peppers. More herbal and mineral on the finish, still nice and light, lemongrass, etc. the Tobala comes through beautifully and very creamy in this. The clay influence is awesome and apparent also. Minty but also soft and creamy. Nice light pepper on the back end.

Overall this is really nice, creamy and fruity with a hint of herb on the finish. The best qualities come out of both the Jabali and the Tobala.

Distilled 2020. ABV 49.7%

Nose: Minerally and fruity. Orange and banana laffy taffy. Light peach, Honeysuckle, fresh basil, fresh cut grass, touch of smoke

Palate & Finish: Starts fruity, pineapple, mangos, then sort of orange citrus, moves to more wet soil, dried fruits particularly citrus, figs, agave. Finish is more clay or wet earth, roasted fruits, burnt oranges, then a long bitter finish, passion fruit like.

This is great. The theme for this one feels like confectionary candy, dried fruits, and wet earth all playing in an awesome band together. Tasty stuff