Love love love this. I don’t get as many flavors out of it as the auditor but on balance that’s very similar to my experience. Sad to finish this one.
4.75. No lot number, no bottle number, no alcohol % on the bottle.
Candied sugar and frosting first. Cream cheese in particular. Chocolate frosting too. Touch of lemon. Zero heat. Like a liquid cupcake on the nose. Pound cake too. My goodness it is nice and smooth through the palate. Not overly thin or thick, just a nice balanced sweetness. A little honey here as well. Hard to tell there’s alcohol in this thing, and not just because the bottle doesn’t say so. Spearmint ending. Restrained finish from a heat perspective, but only moderate length keeping this from a 5 star. The arroqueno version of mezcalero 16 with a touch less finish.
Edition 8, 2006 Harvest Rafael Méndez Cruz
ABV: 47.8%
Lemon pine sol, blueberry muffin on the nose, with a little bit of supporting green notes. Roasted agave later on too. Pleasant, medium bodied mouthfeel. Notable warmth and distance on the on the end contrasts with the restraint of the nose and mouthfeel, leaving it a little unbalanced for me. That said, still a fantastic offering in the espadin space and one worth tracking down.
Sweet potato, roasted agave. Pretty full palate with more green veggies, although not as green as a tepeztate, for example. Some pear fruit here too. well hidden alcohol. I love the pizza seasoning take below too, can definitely detect these elements. Pretty refreshing! 4.25.
Two vintages here and both very good.
2013
Don Lorenzo, L-18
17 years
Sweetness-cantaloupe and melon on the nose. Fairly muted otherwise. Thicker on the palate with roasted agave, pepper. Then some brown sugar/cinnamon as it opens up, which is pretty cool. Perfume like as well. Easy finish. 4+/5
2019
Edgar Angeles Carreno, RML-11
14 years
More green and vegetal on the nose. Bright spring rain. Faint onion in background. More alive on palate in a similarly verdant way. Not like many other karwinskiis, and bordering on that tepextate profile that I enjoy so much. Further in, I’m getting some grape on the finish too. I love this one. 4.75/5
A lot of the same notes as Auditor. Red velvet cream cheese sweetness, honeysuckle on the nose, with a similarly sweet and smooth finish. Moderate, balanced mouthfeel, with the taste of sweet corn in parts, and a little pepper and minerality too I suppose. After it opened up a bit, I swear I got some fresh baked and buttered biscuits on the front. Another really good offering from MM.
3.75+ really. Lot 2.
Nose: lemon citrus, some salinity, faint peanut note deep in. Floral and more intensely perfume like as time goes on. No burn. I get a little sugary sweetness, like lemonade, here. Pops early on palate of alcohol and something else I’m not getting yet. Little uneven here so far. I see the leather the more I have. And raw cocoa. Depth and consistency is nice, if that makes sense (medium to full mouthfeel). Roasted agave and some rubber cement on finish. More peanuts here too.
Almost published this before finishing the pour, but the complexity is really coming out the more I have.
Overall, just a little unrefined through the palate for me right now, but otherwise real good. I think time is going to treat this nicely and look forward to updating this later.
That aroma! Fruity pear and pepper, cheese funk. Apple cider vinegar. Reminds of some pala alma puebla espadillas. Really unlike anything I’ve had from Oaxaca. Sweetness on the nose and palate. Pretty smooth and balanced mouthfeel. Very small pop of chocolate the further you go, almond/grain/earth too. Sharp finish and not very long to me. Nose is the star of the show here. Really impressive.
4.25. Tio Pedro. Fresh, spring rain, citrus, minimal alcohol out of a Denver and Liely glass. Some sweet honey BBQ too, although not much. Moderate clay funk. A not unpleasant lemon pledge note too. Palate-smoke, more sweetness, some earthy bite towards the end. Super random note of grape dimetapp in the middle, but far less medicinal, if that makes sense. Very good mouthfeel for me. Long mineral finish, one you’d hold up there as the classic example of Olla de Barro distillation. This punches well above its price point. Value 4.75+, but I scored this one (and others) without taking that into account. Great mezcal.
Some rubbing alcohol on immediate inspection yields to a balance of citrusy lemon and some licorice. Medium mouthfeel and quite clean. Not a ton of that signature clay pot minerality/funk for me, although it’s there. Leans more sweet. Pretty good finish, little hot, longer than most. Which I enjoy.
3.75. Getting the same wet stone minerality mentioned below, along with some bbq sweetness. It’s good, but a step or two away from the very good/elite karwinskiis.
May 2019 batch. Tasted blind against a couple other non-tobala mezcals.
Nose of an old couch, mothballs, a bit of sea breeze as it opens up. Like the back corner of an old Army surplus store. Bitter palate to me with slate and stone accents. Coffee grinds. An oxidized, earthen finish.
Overall, not quite on Lalo’s level for me. Sounds like the ’19 batch had a little less fruit/complexity to it than earlier batches.
Astroturfy, green, vegetal; fruitier on the palate. A good tepe but a step below Tosba in my view.
3.75/5. Lot Pap-181. Description on the bottle has the nose right–leather couch stored in the back of an antiques store; no detectable alcohol, distant whiff of fruit on the nose. Touch of sweetness on the first sip yields to an earth soil mid palate–reminds me of aerating the yard in the fall. Good fluidity, not too thin, not too thick. Earthy, mineral finish to my taste, along with some distant relative of soy sauce.
Very interesting offering that I’m glad to have on my shelf.
Was very lucky to track this down. Strawberries and peaches, fruit and pastries on the nose. More fruit on the palate–strawberries, watermelon, nerd candy. Very smooth and viscous, even, balanced, and no heat. Little bit of mint on the finish. A 5 star spirit that is excellent at every turn.
Sugary sweet, vanilla and cake frosting–totally a karwinskii up front. Little hot through palate, honeysuckle, sweetness here too balanced with roasted agave, moderately long finish. Very very good.
I got the same notes as Jonny but I just like them more.
4.25 for A-12-TSN-17 53% Tepeztate + 47% Sierra Negra. 52.2%. Tasted with RM Sierrudo, Vago Tobala en Barro, and Mal Bien Coyote. This was great–brisket pepper, spicy on the nose with some herbal qualities coming through. Opens to some light perfume which I found rally interesting. Medium bodied through palate with a little fruit, moderately long finish. More S+P on the finish too. Very, very enjoyable and one I think will get better with age.
Blind tasted this alongside a random assortment of other top tier mezcals (Vago Ensemble Tepe/Sierra Negra, Vago Tobala en Barro, and Mal Bien Coyote). This was my favorite by a decent bit. Fruity minerality up front, full bodied with serious depth. Ripe peach and wet clay across the palate. Lively palate too with a long finish. I wanted to finish it and never finish it. RMS-02.
