Agave Time mezcal list

Sunday, October 11

Thanks so much for participating in Agave Time! It was truly special to have you join for the event, and all the positive feedback really meant a lot.

Hope to see you again, perhaps for another virtual tasting, a private event (if you have any ideas!), or something else. You can always reach out via Instagram or by sending a note to hello@mezcal.nyc.

All of the agave spirits we tasted were produced from agave hearts roasted in earthen pit ovens fueled by wood, unless otherwise noted.

1. Valente Garcia tepextate 2018 (“Agave,” orange label)

Master producer: Valente Garcia (along with his grandson Semei). Community: Santa Maria la Pila, Miahuatlán, Oaxaca. Agave variety: Tepextate (species name Agave marmorata). Double distilled in copper stills, September 2018. Batch size: 150 liters. 47% alcohol.

Tepextate is a relatively rare, usually wild harvested, long-maturing agave variety that takes 15+ years to grow to maturity; this example from Don Valente combines the characteristic power and richness of the variety with the intense and mineral profile of the Miahuatlán region of Oaxaca.

2. Jorge Perez alto (“Yeast,” yellow label)

Master producer: Jorge Perez, working closely with his wife and other family members. Community: Rio de Parras, Michoacán. Agave variety: Alto (species name Agave inaequidens). Fermented in pits with a small quantity of pulque. Double distilled in “filipino”-type stills composed of a copper base and oyamel wood condensation chamber. Purchased in fall 2019 and most likely distilled that year.

This batch from Perez, whose distillates are sometimes sold by the Guadalajara-based independent bottler Mezonte, highlights the effects of a lengthy fermentation with pulque: a fruity, creamy, acidic flavor profile. The long fermentation, as well as the use of a copper-and-wood “filipino” still, is somewhat typical of his part of mountainous, forested Michoacán.

3. Jaime Navarro salmiana (“Work,” light blue label)

Master producer: Jaime Navarro, who shares a production facility with his mother, Maria de la Luz, and bottles under the Campanilla brand along with several relatives. Community: Palmar Segundo, San Luis Potosí. Agave variety: Agave salmiana. Roasted in a partly aboveground oven fueled by agave waste. Mashed with a tahona (millstone). Fermented without agave fibers (the mashed agave juices are separated from the fibers before fermentation with a hammock-like device that squeezes the pulp — unusual!). Double distilled in ancestral “campanilla”-style clay stills. Purchased in March 2020. Contains all of the heads and tails of the second distillation run.

A unique distillate highlighting the influence of the labor-intensive campanilla still — an internal-capture still worked without running water! — and other local practices. It’s a reminder of the tremendous amount of time and work that goes into making traditional agave spirits. It’s also shaped by the dry, desert climate of the Potosino high plain, at the southern end of Mexico’s great northern desert.

4. Don Mateo ensamble 2014, rested in glass for three years (“Glass,” dark blue label)

Master producer: Emilio Vieyra, whose family is responsible for the Don Mateo brand. Community: San Miguel del Monte, Michoacán. Agave variety: 70% cenizo (a local variety of Agave americana) and 30% Agave cupreata, the characteristic variety of Michoacán. Fermented for eight days in wood-lined pits, double distilled in August 2014 in “filipino”-type stills with a copper base and pine and oyamel condensation chamber. Alcohol adjusted with spring water. 558 liters, lot 3, bottle 181 of 744.

A blend of two agave varieties that were roasted, mashed, fermented and distilled together, this batch was rested in large glass vessels for three years before bottling — a relatively uncommon technique that can help focus a mezcal’s flavor and make its alcohol content somewhat less noticeable.

5. Del Maguey arroqueño 2014 (“Air,” pink label)

Master producer: Florencio Carlos Sarmiento and/or Florencio Carlos Vasquez. (This information is from mezcalreviews.com, as the Del Maguey brand does not typically identify or promote its producers.) Community: Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca. Agave variety: Arroqueño (Agave americana). Double distilled in clay pots, in keeping with the typical style of Santa Catarina Minas, a famous clay-still town. Lot SCM 141.

Once opened, mezcals evolve in the bottle as they are exposed to air, particularly via their interaction with oxygen. This bottle from Del Maguey, when it was first opened more than a year ago, initially had a somewhat off-putting volatile or acetone note to it. But that has disappeared with intentional exposure to oxygen, coupled with time in the bottle, resulting in a rich and balanced profile.

6. Teca Moisés Calzada cupreata 2015 (“Life,” purple label)

Master producer: Moisés Calzada Rendón. Community: Tetitlán de la Lima, Guerrero. Agave variety: Agave cupreata. Milled with a mechanical mill, fermented in ayacahuite wood (Mexican white pine), double distilled in copper stills. 50% alcohol, bottled by Teca Mezcal.

A tribute to Moisés Calzada, known as Don Moi, a celebrated producer and mezcal-community leader in the state of Guerrero, who was murdered the year this spirit was made. A reminder that a traditional agave spirit is ultimately a product of an individual human lifespan. To learn more about Don Moi, you might be interested in reading this obituary, perhaps with the help of Google Translate. The Spanish word for mezcal producer is “mezcalero,” and Don Moi was, the author writes, “nieto de mezcalero, hijo de mezcalero, mezcalero él mismo, padre de mezcaleros.” Grandson of a mezcalero, son of a mezcalero, mezcalero himself, father of mezcaleros.