Batch 1118AC from a Drammers tasting set.
Insane all around. Arak meets cucumbers meets green flowers meets…soemthing sweet and barrel aged.
aniseed, lavender, black pepper, pickled peppercorns, tamarind, candied lime peel. Oyster??? there’s a teeny bit of seafood. But I think I’m trying to find too much; just let it be known that this is delicious.

Woah! totally different than what I’ve has so far.
Nose: watermelon rind, distant warm spices (clove, cardamom), new car, dry erase marker (just tested that one with a green expo! lol). maybe some wet stone (get that a lot w mezcal so it could just be me). teeniest bit of a wood fire
Mouth: cucumber (especially those tiny ones that look like small watermelons), turmeric, underripe banana. vanilla; in a sweet way that reminds me of what oak does for bourbon.

This one is from a tasting pack via Drammers, from Batch 1019IRM

Batch CLM10 (45.5%)
This is a bottle to buy your friend who says they don’t like Mezcal. light and refreshing but still delicate and full of flavor. Easy to keep on a shelf and therefore probably should be a mainstay on bars all over. Honeydew (with the same level of sweetness), lime juice, not really much more. But still delicious and at a low/no smoke point. Not to be repetitive, but this is st you should buy for your friend (if you’re on this site Iassume you’re a bit of a nerd); but your friend probably isn’t, but they might like drinking. This tastes good on its own and will mix stupid well.

Another beautiful one. Limes dipped in curry powder. Cumin, cardamom, turmeric, anise. Lemon verbena, lime zest. omg…is this what an Amba & Mezcal cocktail would taste like???

Damn. this is gorgeous. Floral, mineral forward, mango, maybe macadamia nuts or other really fatty nut. sweet herbs (mints, verbenas, thai basil). something truly truly beautiful for all levels of agave enjoyers

Edit after a few weeks: came back and on the nose I’m getting lots of fruit I don’t recall getting before. Bruleed then dried bananas? stuff like that. Still delightful, keeping it at a 5. Insane that this could come fro the same agave as your run of the mill tequila

Batch ART-ENS-001. 50%. Also came in a 60.9% taster bottle which I will add later on. I believe there is a typo on the bottle; says it is an ensemble of 6 magueys, but I think it may be 7. Anywho, on to the review!
Nose: Pecorino, wet grass, charcoal on said wet grass, smoked salmon, grilled banana.
Taste: goes a whole different direction. Fruit, brown sugar, butter. Honeydew, pineapple, mint, banana, vanilla. syrupy even (are residual sugars a thing in distilled spirits?)
So fun. nose and taste are pretty unrelated, but overall i am a fan. Excited to come back for the higher proof one.

Taster: we need more 60+ proof mezcals. Whisky can’t be having all the fun! its just everything turned up a bunch, with incredibly well integrated alcohol. Imma give the taster a 4.5-5. Cheers!

Batch CAR-CHO-001, 49.9%
First Mezcal in a little while, so bear with me.
nose: distant sage, fresh concrete, slate, white chocolate? one of the more subdued i’ve had from MM
Taste: orange peel, salted watermelon rind, salt spray, slate, white pepper.

Pulled back and extremely clean; the quality is undoubtedly there. There is perhaps a slight burn, but otherwise drinks smoothly. Not the most interesting or unique from MM, but tasty nonetheless

Edited after a bit of time open and not after a long hiatus from agave. This is delicious, and once again a pulled back and refined bottle from MM. Everything I said before still stands for me, but something else has come out to play as well. A slight smokiness and a super duper dark, vegetal honey (i once had “avocado” honey, where the bees only really had access to pollen from avo plants. dark as molasses and vegetal. This is like that. A distinctly non commercial honey vibe). MM continues to delight, and has non stop superb bottles. Can’t wait for the next batch

Dropped the rating on 9/30/21. just not loving it right now

Tons of flowers, red bell pepper. blander tropical fruit (dragon, papaya). super duper clean. This ones for when you’re having oysters or raw scallop or st like that. light, bright as fuck. High level of minerality, light in texture. Some sharp white pepper, lemongrass, wheatgrass, lime zest. another wonderful one from MM

WOW.
Savory, charcoal, BBQ, smoked poultry. Bbq pringles, BBQ potato chips. Will have to revisit this to pull out some more, but just wow on this level of smokey savory while still being clean!

Lot 21, 05/19, Bottle 1154/1750. 43.9% abv

First off, the nose. Insane levels of jalapeño, freshly cut, focusing on the green flesh here. possibly something pickled. By something, we can only mean a jalapeño. Jalapeño in many forms I’d say.
The jalapeño doesn’t go anywhere when you start drinking. Maybe a bit of that bison grass vodka. a bit salty. As it sits in my cup, some hard aged cheese notes come out on the nose. the pickle idea turns to brine, and olives take center stage.
Comes out to a tune I don’t love, but give it some air and that one note goes on to add a few more. Definitely not sad to have a 750 of this

After a few releases that leaned into the funkier sides of things, this release from MM is anything but. Insanely refined, leaning dessert vibes. Orange peels, white chocolate, marjoram, cardamom. Nose adds in some more citrus zest (limes probably), maybe even bits of lime leaf and lemongrass?. White flowers, other lighter flowers, and just all round wonderful. Wow

Date 06-17, Lot 01.
Nose is funky: fennel, a bag of charcoal, cut grass, some underripe apples.
Taste: smooth and easy to work with, more underripe apples and just barely a hint of vanilla.
Overall, quite nice. not challenging at all, but also not interesting. Would be easy to incorporate into a drink; but also to introduce someone who wants a cleaner, less nuanced drink.
Accidentally reached for this rain after a pair from another producer. Will add this one to the mixing shelf, just not for me

Love this. balanced levels of sweet and minerality. Nose gives u a bit of star anise and cut stone. Mouth has the same + underripe stone fruit and a bit of eucalyptus. delightful

nose: buttery and funky.Lime Zest. The mouth tho!!!!
All the same is there, but with tons of springtime aliums, wet grass, windowsill herbs…Smells you might get if you live in the countryside during spring. I live in NYC, so i can be wrong. there’s a pretty cool blast of minerality and stone as it sits i my cup

At the front, loads of pine, grass, and other green vegetal things. maybe a bit of brine. The end is definitely a bit sharp. Not a mezcal expert, but i think other folks are reacting to st that I’m just not picking up on???

Ok. My room now smells like Parmesan cheese. i love it. hoping the taste will follow. Ok wow. interesting. I’m really getting cacio e pepe turnip vibes (thats a thing maybe only I do). that’s an incredibly specific link that I recommend anyone who likes this (or wants understand it) should have. Take a japanese turnip, salt it, shred a funky cheese over it, crack some pepper. Olive oil of course. This has all that. Sharp, vegetal, funk as hell, spicy/peppery. after it gets some air, the banana notes everyone else talks about are coming through. But I can’t believe more aren’t getting hard funky cheese. every time i revisit its a little roller coaster

PDM – This one is interesting thats forsure. cooked strawberries, grass, and tons of tropical fruits (pineapples, mango, one of the more savory ones (egg fruit or breadfruit),but no bananas at all). ferment funk & sour creme. actually gonna boost my score as I sit wit it, Pechugas of any type will really hit with someone who messes w a wide varietyy of spirits

Cupreata Mini – this nose is crazy. tortilla chips, corn, jalapeños, stinky cheese. sort of what I’d imagine a durian to smell like. Taste: comes a bit thin, but then punches you in the face with white pepper, bananas, dry wood…maybe even seafood? just the broad category.

Very happy they included both, but folks who run MR….shouldn’t these be two different bottles??

I ADORE SCN. They’re one of my favorite bottlers of anything, so I had to get this back when it was released. This is my first time doing a formal review.
Vanilla, butter, charcoal barbecue smoke, lime juice, chalk, fresh concrete. Tonight, I realized just how much I like mezcal. Salud!

Smacked in the face with tropical fruits. overripe pineapple with the skin, bananas. Strawberry, blueberry. without any exaggeration, a fruit smoothie.

Wow. I don’t know mezcal well, but this is outstanding. I have a very limited mezcal vocabulary, but I’ll do my best.

Vegetal and incredibly green: bamboo shoots, artichokes, hearts of palm (wisps of vinegar). even lettuces
Pink peppercorns, white flowers, boiled potatoes. this is incredible. My first from Maguey Melate. looking forward to so so many more

Edit a bit later: I still get the above, but way more sweetness has come out, and layers of vanilla I don’t remember from before. the floral aspect has increased 10 fold, the vegetal aspect is perhaps the same, and the slight bits of starchiness are gone. the green has faded a bit and a white creamy floral vibe has taken its place. Still delicious, still a delight.