Strong, sweet smell…rotten fruit funk is pronounced. Clay is well balanced though on the taste with tropical fruit, and some tartness. Slight pepper on finish. One of my first raicillas, and can’t say I totally love it. Will keep trying though! Awesome to get these in 200ML bottles though as a way to sample. 3.25
Lote: A20, Date 01-20
Review #89

Buttery & floral on the nose and throughout the taste. Sweet, citirusy (lemon), and overall very pleasant. ABV is a bit lower for my personal preference. All around though a very good espadin!

My favorite of all 4x Historico Gustos samples I’ve tried. Smell is green, sweet, and inviting. Tepeztate forward, which I’m definitely biased to. Love the green and earthiness, along with some cream notes from the cuishe. Candy sweetness is in there too. Tastes a bit stronger than the 47% ABV, but in a great way. I’m buying a full bottle of this one!
2 oz sample

Creamsicle! Not getting normal sotol notes of grass/earthy either. Very clean finish, with some earthy, cotton notes, but not overall complex. Smooth and balanced finish. One of the better of the Gusto Historicos.
2 oz sample

Very fragrant. Airy, grassy, and earthy. Can’t figure out which agave dominates on this one, but they are all working in harmony together. Unfortunately, this one also seems to be a bit too hot. Overall very good ensamble.
2oz sample

Very fragrant. Karwinskiis seems to dominate this ensamble, as I don’t get any of the tepeztate notes I’m used to (50% madrecuixe, 20% bicuixe, 30% Tep.) Overall not bad at all – some pink bubblegum sweetness with a cream finish (candycorn?). Bit too hot though to get a higher ranking. 3.75.
2oz sample

Lote: ACRO16, Bottle 179, May 2018.
Solid clay espadin! In fact one of my favorite espadins to date…probably couldn’t have guessed the agave type in a blind tasting. It’s very sweet, flowery, and well rounded. Full mouth feel and viscous. Honey and orange cream. Smoke and clay are in check, and work together beautifully. Very excited to try more from Cuentacuentos. Also, seems like all reviews here are tasting the same batch, which is cool and shows it’s well liked.
Review #2: ACR033 – Equally good, and I guessed this one blind based on the smell alone (tangy, sweet apples). Taste is still very tangy, sweet, with light smoke. Balanced & a delicious espadin. This LOTE is more of a 4.25.
Review #83/#149

People seem to love this one, but it’s not for me.
Leather and clay funk dominate the smell, and carries over to the taste. There’s some burnt rubber in there, with some pleasant sweetness, (but not enough), BBQ, saltiness. Overall I feel like the clay distillation on this one is not balanced out as well as it could be (but I seem to be in a minority here, so hey…).
Update: it has gotten better with some oxygen as I’ve had the bottle open longer, so I would bump this up more to a 3.5.

Wow…this one has it all. Great, and classic tepextate notes that I love – fresh jalapeño, fresh green pepper. Some good smoked green veggies (asparagus). Spicy. A bit sharp at the end, but overall very solid mezcal and tep….I’m buying a 375ml now.
REI-TEP-001, 50ml from Melate.

Sweet, vanilla nose. Good clay balance. Vanilla wafers, some citrus fruit, candiness… all overlaid with the classic clay taste and mouth-feel. Quite good!

Exquisite smell – floral & flowery. Taste brings rating down a bit for me, but still very enjoyable. Well rounded with the approachable cuishe sweetness. It’s hard for me not to like most mezcals from Miahuatlan either.
200ml from agave mixtape.

200ml from Agave Mixtape.
Unique and appealing smell. Melon, cream, vanilla. Some lemon. Taste to me is tad astringent, fabric softer. Overall tasted seemed to go down the longer I had it open. First Alto agave.
2023 – 12211RM. Tried different batch. Very similar notes to older batch. Dryer sheets. Apple bitter sweetness. I’d probably keep rating the same.
Review #78

EN01 (batch made from 65x jabali piñas & 50x tobalas)
Did a side-by-side comparison with both the jabali & tobala standalone mezcals, and can definitely taste both agaves in this ensamble. Mixture of fruit, nail polish, spice, mint, all balanced with some clay funk and heat at the end. Might prefer this one to any of the single varietals!
Review #77, 2oz sample

TB03-18
Perfume smell, with some fruit. Piney taste, white sugar, orange cream. Soft & delicate in the beginning, but seems to finish with some hotness. Like this one slightly better than the Jabali at 3.75 stars. 2oz sample, so maybe improves over time with a whole bottle as others pointed out?
Review #76

JA03-18
Tastes a bit mellow, woody, little bubblegum, some leather, and a minty finish. Some chlorine on the smell, with ethanol. Bit light to my liking. I wanted to rate this batch higher, but I just can’t.
2oz sample, so maybe improves over time with a whole bottle as others pointed out?
Review #75

Edition 6 (2017)
Nail polish on nose, but not horrible. Reminiscent of other Pedro Vasquez’ mezcal distinguished by this unique smell.
Palate carries some green, cooked agave, grass. Easy & well balanced. Earthy, some candy sweetness buried in there…little harsh at the end with the ‘nail polish’ again. Not overly complex, nor blows me away…while this was a 2oz sample, I would still deduct a half a star to the high price tag (sometimes the bottle improves over time), as it is underdelivering.
Review #74

RML-04 (2016)
Clay in check, little earthy & sweet – balance of green pepper, clay, & tropical fruit. This one is highly reviewed and tasted for a reason.
Review #73

Lote 6, 46.5% ABV
Light grass, not overpowering like most sotols it would seem. Metal water taste, citrus, orange zest. Lighter, not as harsh, with some sweetness.
Did a side-by-side with the Green label, and must say I prefer the Green.
Review #72

Lote 1 (49% Churique, 51% Wheeleri). 50.5% ABV
Wet grass, light, lemony. Taste is earthy, some dirt, lemon verbena, lemon zest, wheat grass.
Did a side-by-side with the Yellow label, and must say I prefer this one…4.25.
Review #71
*Have since purchased a bottle of Lote 2 (which is almost identical to the Lote 1 in every way), and still is so, so delicious. Might even rate this one a 4.5 now.

Edition 14 by Igancio Parada (btw, Costco in Nor Cal is carrying these now)!
Reviews seem to be all over the place on this one, but I don’t think it’s bad at all. Love the cuishe smell (sweet, slightly floral, & creamy. Taste is more of the same with some green & citrus fruit. Nothing pops, yet nothing is offensive. Soft mezcal & smoke seems to be in check. Ignacio has put out some bangers, but I don’t think this is his best by far.
Review #70