Wet clay, hay, grilled raclette cheese tingling the nostrils.
Medium viscosity, a bit subdued, but nice and very pleasant. Green Madagascar pepper corns in brine, leathery plum rakia and herbal freshness. Medium aftertaste with hints of blue cheese and pears. Great bottle.
Review updated a bit, after four different batches. Steer clear of the 100% rhodecantha, it has a rubbery hint of burnt toast to it. But the Amarillo/Chico ones are consistently good, excellent, in fact. A bit varying hints of cider vinegar between batches, but always fruity, herbal, lightly cheesy. Just note that if you are new to raicilla you might think “toe jam” instead of “blue cheese”…

I could be treating this bottle unfairly, after a couple of very intense mezcals. Nice aroma with pine and a bit herbal funk. Mint, quince and green pepper (piperaceae, not green chili). Medium aftertaste. Surprisingly strong for 43,5% abv.

Great ensamble, simply. You couldn’t tell if it’s copper or clay pot from the aromas, but there is a great mineral touch regardless. Sweetness from espadin with aromas of quince, coconut and banana. Great balance, a bit short aftertaste although full and rich.

This bottle is hard to compare with any other agave spirit because of its unique character. It does not smell of mezcal: it’s a very fruity funk like a Jamaican rum, not the lactic, typical raicilla connotations of milk products or barn. Also lilac and a metallic minerality. Little smoke on the palate if any, tastes of a marriage of rhum agricole, aromatic pisco and a vegetal agave spirit. The aftertaste lingers on forever, sometimes suggesting a barrel aged spirit, but at other times just delicious, fresh fruitiness.. I’ll might try water the next time, but this is lovely as it is.

Lot 5.

Lovely nose, like opening a hot clay pot containing a stew of white meat, tarragon and basil. Subtle minerality. On the palate the same meaty mouthfeel I’ve had with other pechugas, hint of cured ham and reblochon cheese. Panettone cake, lychee and violets, then a subtle aftertaste of some hard cheese rind I cannot specify, lingering on forever under a veil of floral, saline aromas — like your lover’s summer dress at sundown after a day on the beach.

Lot PEC-131

I have never tasted a clay pot pechuga before, certainly not one that so clearly declares the material of the distillation vessel. Flint and charred meat, abricot skins and thyme dominates on the nose. There is a recognisable minerality shared between all Lalocuras I think, and a thick mouthfeel. Tastes of grilled chicken skin, toffee, melon and dried banana, long aftertaste. Not easy to take in everything in a 2cl pour.

Lot 26 May 21: Fromage blanc and ripe cantaloupes, papaya and guava. Slight taste of ash, nice minerality. Full mouthfeel, nice structure. Five stars.

Previous two tastings:
Nice smell of yoghurt, melon, grass and a hint of smoke.
Cottage cheese on the tongue for the split of a second but basically this raicilla has a slight mineral taste profile and little funk. I love the balance of this bottle: raicilla funk and minerality are toned down, fruit and spice come forth.

Smells of orris root and mint, reminiscent of an Italian Strega liqueur. Nice blend of fruit and wood but not very complex. Very “correct” and nice. Good craftsmanship and good flavours, although not very memorable.

Spicy nose of allspice, dust and acetone. Vaguely lactic, sourdough.
Tastes earthy, mineral but without specific clay, slate or the like. Viscous mouthfeel, although personally I think it is still dry and mineral rather than oily. Vegetal connotations unusual for an espadin, not a lot of fruit but balanced. Subdued aftertaste. This bottle had been opened several years ago, so a hint of a sour aftertaste is something that had probably mellowed over time and corona lockdowns. Solid enough in the state it was in when I tasted.
Lot SJR103/16

Slightly lactic smell of Greek yoghurt, dust, leather, spruce resin, dried tansy, dried mango. It does remind me too about sotol.
Asparagus and artichoke flavours, abricot, bitter almond, quince. Very long aftertaste with banana toffee and lovely fruitiness with a hint of maraschino cherries. Medium, but very discreet smoke. Fascinating, and at such a low price-point five stars is obligatory. I’d probably give it five regardless
Lot L18346

Smells of smoke for sure, a bit cheesy funk/wheat sourdough and grass. Grapefruit and unripe mangoes, but sweet. Grassy aftertaste with a good mineral feeling, earth, spice. Quite viscous mouthfeel. Great bottle.
Lot PAP-161

Smells very mineral for being copper distilled, dusty, green chiles. Fresh cheese, jalapeño, boiled pears, toffee. Smokey finish. Very good mezcal I’d never refuse, ever.
Bottle from 2016 with illegible lot no.

Edit: Tasting from another unknown lot number I should add half a star. Very mineral nose still. More cinnamon spice than my last try, peppery. Structure is excellent: discreet but full mouthfeel with long pleasant aftertaste. There is a slight bitter tone many will enjoy but that to me seems misplaced and stops me from giving a full score.

Lot 161:
An even better batch, very well rounded tep, whilst keeping the distinct character of the maguey.

No batch number, distilled May 2018.
Smells of unglazed earthenware, a flashback from a visit to a pottery decades ago. Peanut skins, hay, just a hint of esters vaguely similar to Jamaican, aged pot still rum.
Mineral mouthfeel, but not very viscous. Tastes of overripe pear, cocoa and peanut turning towards more leather and tobacco hints. More nuts than fruits afterwards, woody rather than smoky. Lovely aftertaste all in all. A bit like having just cracked and eaten some walnuts after an evening Christmas dinner, with a glass of Port. Try an open vessel and leaving it for + ten minutes if it is the first sip from the bottle like mine was.

Edit: I was compelled to add an extra star in a later edit because of how extraordinarily this bottle has developed two months since opening. Simply a lot fruitier with paraguayo peaches and plum, and then some vanilla/blueberry cream dessert — all whilst keeping the former tasting notes intact.

Lot 7, May 19.
My first sotol. Iris, aniseed, peppermint, and clear brandy. Strong and interesting nose, quite the aromas of yellow chartreuse, but more with a feeling of fresh herb than infused.
I do agree that it tastes a bit of charred corn, also lemon sherbet and grassy, vegetal spice. Not a long aftertaste but all in all very pleasant.
Not sure how to rate a Sotol. I love it for the freshness, but at the same time it is not as complex as my favourite mezcals.

Tio Jesus. Did not catch any batch number.
This is so special, it does not quite compare to any other mezcal I have tried. Ash, soil, clay, peat, dried fruit on the nose. Tastes of dried limes, dark mulberries, Scottish pipe tobacco and Irish whiskey. Best aspect of this mezcal is the aftertaste where the tongue is exposed to flavours hitherto reserved for the nostrils. The low price is also a plus, of course.

Wow. Flint, smoke, dusty loft on the nose. Dry roasted peanuts, coconut. Plum and dark fruits, soon changing into prunes, figues and leather. Stunning.

No batch unfortunately.
Smells of slate and wet, fresh wood, faint aroma of dried flowers — something between lavender and chamomile. Mineral on the palate at first, leather and nutty. At first you think it is something barrel aged but it quickly changes to sweet French praline, lemon succade, fading with leather and something you have never had on your tongue before, only smelled in an old antiquity store. Otherworldly.
Edit: I’ve tried four different batches eventually and just found D-01-19 in Europe — labelled as a destilado rather than as Mezcal. Consistent across all batches though. Faultless.

Smells like a mango lassi: tropical fruit and yoghurt, then a whiff of dusty leather from a Moroccan souk. I can agree on cedar, or something woody, with a bit of incense on the tongue after a few seconds. Intriguing vague taste of lime sherbet (sugared lime peels and -juice). Then more light, tropical fruits such as carambola and papaya rather than agave/pear. Great experience, make sure you’ve warmed up the palate with something basic before you go for this one.

Distilled January 2019

Second time coming back to this bottle. Smells of leather, acetone and dust. A bit funk/wild yeast, dried pasillas, Orkney peat-ish smoke. An explosion of immediate flavour on the palate: peppery pear, quince, poblano chile and green wine gums. There is also some lilac that makes me think of pisco from the italia grape. Medium viscosity mouthfeel.
Calm aftertaste, cool at first with eucalyptus and mint over pear and cucumber. A short burn and then leather and candy flavoured fruitiness comes back, the smoke aroma has transformed into something close to moritas, but is still discreet.
This is a stunning mezcal. I think it opened up significantly after a couple of weeks, so be patient.

Bottled in May, 2019
Note that this bottle states copper stills and agave potatorum. It is also fermented longer than stated on previous batches.

Nose: A bit raw spirit at first. As with most mezcals, leather and rubber dominates, but nothing really unusual about it. After a while in the glass a bit more animalistic aromas of wild yeasts rather than lactic ones. I like it because it challenges my olfactory memory. But as so often with mezcal I am quite certain a few weeks resting the spirits before bottling would do good.

Palate: I have had a few tobalás before, but this is my first maguey papalome version of agave potatorum. It is also definitely my first mezcal distilled from rawhide fermentation. The agave fruit is in the background, together with the smokiness it is rather a baseline than distinct aromas. Boiled pear, cottonsedge, hay, leather, white pepper, rye sourdough, olive brine. The mouthfeel is of medium viscosity.

The aftertaste is a bit short I think, reminds me of some tequilas. The fermentation of this mezcal stands out, and some of the animalistic aromas make a return, this time to the back of the soft palate. It reminds me of wild fermented ciders from Normandy, France.

Edit: After a few months, fruitiness is a lot more prominent, and this bottle is growing on me. I suspect the spirit has not been sufficiently rested before bottling. Additional star added, because the lactic sourness is now a lot more integrated.