Lot 07. Gregorio Hernández. This was like dessert! Sweet with a long tasty finish. Jasmine flower, wildflower honey, vanilla ice cream, and cloves. Yum.
D5008B-J. Strong nail polish smell. Flavor more sweet and floral. Jasmine, orange blossom, bubble gum. Nowhere near as good as El Jolgorio or Del Maguey’s Jabali.
PM03. Cheese funk, like aged cotija. Tropical fruits. Pineapple, guava, soursop.
SN04. Somebody mentioned new tennis balls and it stuck in my head, but that’s not quite it….it’s like my grandfathers garage. Mysterious. Smooth, creamy, and mysterious. It might take the full bottle to wrap my head around this one.
Lot 23. A new agave to add to my list! Exciting! It’s up to 85 now! I hope some ethnobotanist figures out which agaves are true separate species, sub-species, or just different regional names for the same thing. Anyways, when I tasted this I thought it was very similar to Derrumbes San Luis Potosí. Very complex, funky, vegetal. I kept thinking of a Parmesan cheese omelet with some fresh green bell pepper. I wonder if Warash is similar to Salmiana? I prefer the Derrumbes however.
DS001 ECT. Smelled like wet dog, but not in a bad way. The funk was more on the nose than the tongue. Cucumber, wasabi, medjool dates, and red licorice. I like it!
Lot 09. Ignacio Parada. Fresh berries, strawberries and raspberries, fresh mint, and wet forest leaves. Excellent Mexicano!
Edition 16. Rafael Mendez Cruz. Classic Tepextate. Fresh jalapeño, fresh green bell pepper, cacao nibs, and roses. I miss the old Don Goyo Tepextate but this one is very good.
Edition 11. Ignacio Parada. WOW! Fresh Jalepeño, bell pepper, caramel, mint, something earthy and vegetal like a warehouse of drying tobacco leaves. Burning incense, warm spices like clove and allspice. Another 5 stars for one of my favorite brands and Mezcaleros.
Lot 03. Black bottle. Ignacio Parada. WOW. This is my kind of Mezcal. 10/10. Maybe even 100/100. With every sip it grew more and more complex. This stuff is magic in a bottle. Flowers, so many flowers! Jalapeño, cinnamon, clove, apple pie, volcanic rock, cardamom, pecans. Desert island bottle for me.
Rmtr-01. Not bad, more of a 3.5 for me. Spice, minerality, and vegetal flavors. Black pepper, caramel, boiled artichoke, wet sand, and green olive. I brought back a bottle of tripon in December from Palenque El Conejo in Minas that absolutely blew this one away so that probably colored my judgement of this one.
RMTR-03. WAY better than 01!! Creamy and luscious with notes of baked clay, dried coconut, and roasted peanuts. 4.5 stars.
Rml-06. People really seem to love this one. I wanted to like it but my girlfriend and I both found it mediocre. Nail polish remover, clay dust, jasmine flower. Thin body, not at all creamy, short finish.
RML-09. Creamy, menthol, white pepper, rosewater. Just ok.
Arm-01. Quite good. Citrus and funk. Orange peel, asiago cheese, wet earth. My favorite of the three Real Mineros I tried, but not a five for me.
E-16-MC-17 Emigdio Jarquin. Sweet, grassy, and spicy. Fresh cut grass, artichoke, fresh ground pepper, orange peel, caramel popcorn, dried ancho chile, cayenne pepper.
Lot Tob-171. Sweet, woody, and herbal. Sawdust, banana, big league chew bubblegum, spearmint candy.
Lot Jab-181. Beautiful and complex! Fresh jalapeño, fresh green bell pepper, jasmine flower, pineapple, papaya, banana, plumeria flower, clove, allspice, sandlewood, teak wood. WOW!!!
Lot Rio-141. A lot of smoke. Black pepper, thyme, artichoke, raspberry. Short finish, no complexity.
Lot Tep-151. Really disappointing. None of that green jalapeño smell and flavor that I associate with Tepextate. Really sour, vegetal, and bitter. Anise, crushed brick, and boiled arugula.
Lot 37. Rubbing alcohol on the nose. Very thin body, strange for being clay distilled. Wet cardboard, almond butter, dried apricot and chalk. Really hot for only 46%.
ARRO-171. Mint chocolate, guava, lemon peel, and cantaloupe. Fruity and delicious! Probably would have rated it a five if I hadn’t been trying it next to the San Pablo Ameyaltepec.
Lot PAP-171. Very smoky. I haven’t had one this smoky in a while. Leather, menthol, and cherry cough syrup. Interesting finish. Good, but I wouldn’t buy it.
