1021JB 48%

Nose: Grape kool-aid, tarragon, wet earth, caramel apple, warm bread in a bakery, pumpkin seeds, gravel.
Palate: Cooked agave, minerals, rye, caramel green apple as others have mentioned, maybe some grape and papaya and peach in there as well. Toasty!

Series 7 in 2023

Delicious cuishe, both in the nose and palate. Green and vegetal, you can taste the essence of the karwinskii and the trunk of the agave. Grapey and smoky and delicious.

Series 7 in 2023

Nose: fruity, bright and citrusy. Pineapple and lemon. Spicy cheese funk.

Palate: candied fruit, dried papaya flavors. Quickly morphs into cherries. Seriously… Massive amounts of cherry pie. Like a cherry pie just hit me in the face. This is almost too much like candy. Dangerously delicious!

Nose: bright green peppers and citrus, orange rind, fruit loops, wet earth and stone,
Palate: WOW! What a smooth, fruity explosion! Sweet and juicy and virtually no alcohol taste. This is a game changer. Dangerously good. A little karwinskii-forward with coppery and woody notes balanced by fruit and earth, wrapped in grape, toast and tobacco flavors.

TEP-C 02-23-2020 Purchased a bottle from Madre
Maestro: Enrique de la Cruz
60 liters 52.2%

Nose: Perfume at first, and a strong smell of dates. Maybe some jackfruit like cagliostro said. In the glass, tons of cocoa powder and hot chocolate – it smells amazing! Baking spices, papaya and apricot. After opening up a bit, I get additional notes of jackfruit and ash.

Palate: Oh wow… a chocolate cake bomb explodes in your mouth at first. I would have thought this was clay-distilled. Chocolate frosting is very prevalent. It tastes like the chocolate popsicles my dad would bring home when I was a kid. I’m also getting some jackfruit in there as well.

I feel that the highest quality mezcal brings back good memories, and this is one of those. I also get notes of bourbon, leather and dark spices.

0415FC – First of all I can’t believe I found a bottle still around from 2015!

Nose: Classic madrecuishe, a mixture of fruit, green and spice. Jelly beans and frosting, grape soda.

Palate: Man this is delicious… Just a flavor explosion of madrecuishe that gets down into your soul… Fruity, floral, woody, spicy and wonderful. Nectar of the gods.

I feel that comparison to other flavors almost does this masterpiece a disservice. I can’t wait to see how this develops as it opens up!

Nose is sweet and fruity. Strawberry jam, papaya,
Palate is super smooth, little alcohol burn, more fruit than aromatic like I’m used to from a tepextate. On the backend it does come into play a bit more. Sweet and a little subdued.

Edition 17 from 2017 K&L exclusive
Bottle 5/180 47%
Rested in glass 5 years

Nose: Barril! Blast of citrus and wood with a coppery tone, smells of karwinskii greenness, orange blossom and honey with a bit of nail polish remover but not in a very bad way (that has gone away as the bottle opened up).

Palate: Intense. Lots going on with a front blast of spice and some heat, with strong citrus peal flavors that mellow into orange blossom and honey.
Grape soda on the finish that eventually turns into woody pina flavors.

After opening up, this mezcal is an orange bomb, with tangerine / mandarin, navel, blood orange all mixed up. Maybe you could use this instead of triple sec in a margarita (just kidding)!

I was really interested to try this one because of the glass rested nature, and I didn’t have a fully barril bottle before this, only ensambles (which it’s often suited for).

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.

The softness and texture of the clay pot is very evident. The flavor is refined by the clay, evidencing the classic cuishe flavors but tempered by the espadin. Very drinkable and smooth, a bottle that could go very quickly!

Samples at Tortuga y Chango in Atlanta.

A very solid mezcal for the price. Strikes that balance and is so affordable this could be a daily drinker or mixer.

Delicious, Classic madrecuishe flavors. Pine, green pepper, mint, and woody tree trunk. Definitely delicious!

Very fruity flavors of pineapple, papaya and apple along with earth and minerals. Very tasty mezcal although not top shelf, but a great regular go-to option for anyone interested in exploring a good tobala.

The familial connection to Mexicano is detectable (Rhodacantha). On the nose it’s dirty and earthy. Bouillon, aji-no-moto, mushrooms, tire rubber, racing mechanic shop. Palate is earthy and meaty, like pork belly or bacon, rubber, dark meat stock flavors. Its very distinctive and tasty!

A bold cenizo with a bit more spice than normal. I taste strong pear notes mixed with caramel, spearmint and coppery smoke alongside the traditional cenizo flavors.

This is a lot lighter than I prefer. The nose is light and mainly smoky, almost like an espadin to me. The palate is also pretty light, on the sweeter side, predominantly smoke with maybe a hint of that cocoa that the description states.

I believe this is the same or very similar to Rezpiral series 6 ensemble as it is the same Mezcalero and ingredients (Lumbre/Tobasiche/Espadilla/Tobala/Coyote/Tepeztate/Cuishe)

Nose: immediately hits you with a massive clump of green weeds, grass and veggies. Reminds me of playing in my extended backyard field as a kid, which wasn’t mowed and was next to a creek. I could smell this all day.
Palate: Green grass growing in the dew. Fresh hay. Mud and earth in a stable. Riverbed rocks. Woodsy, tree trunk flavors I think comes from the karwinskii.
Taken with an orange, a lot of candied citrus enters the palate and blends well.

First time trying a Lumbre, which appears to be the predominant maguey, but I recognized the tobasiche and they appear to be both karwinskiis.