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Fellow Drammers!
We’re delighted to welcome back Maguey Melate founder Dalton Kreiss to celebrate our first 2 mezcal bottling with them. Both technically “spirits distilled from agave” since (as with Rezpiral and 5 Sentidos) they do not pay the fee to have it certified as mezcal for reasons that go beyond money. We’ll be tasting through 5 different expressions from 5 very different regions, including 3 using traditional clay pot stills, and even a non-mezcal mango distillate! Check out the lineup:
Pulquero by Felix Hernandez Ruiz. Our first 2 expressions are our new Drammers exclusive bottles. The first (Drammers #021) is a Pulquero mezcal. The maestro mezcalero who made this makes the pulque (a fermented agave syrup) that is served at all our favorite mezcal bars in Oaxaca. Normally we drink it to cap off each night during our annual Day of the Dead trips, but with covid slowing down tourism traffic, this year Felix decided to harvest and distill into mezcal some of the plants he would have normally used to make pulque. You can learn more about this mezcal (and order a bottle for yourself) here. 49.1% abv.
Chuparrosa by Isaac Alvarez Rodriguez. If you haven’t heard of Churparrosa mezcal before, there’s a good reason — it’s is an extremely rare type of mezcal. You can Google it for yourself, but as far as we can tell, none has ever been released outside of Mexico before. As we understand it, there are only two mezcaleros total producing this, only making 100 or so liters of it every few years! It’s crazy, and we’re honored that our friends at Maguey Melate entrusted this to us. They discovered this tiny batch by maestro mezcalero Isaac Alvarez Rodriguez — only 30 liters initially, and then they distilled another 65 liters, and that’s likely all that will be produced of this type of mezcal in that city (San Lorenzo Jilotepequillo) for the next couple years (they have now planted a new batch of Chuparrosa agaves, but it will take 5 to 7 years for them to grow, and there are very few plants that are near maturity currently, so it will likely be another 2 years or more before even this producer can make another batch. And as we understand it, he is one of the only producers of this type of mezcal in Mexico right now (like maybe there’s only one other, doing equally small batches). So a very special chance to try this rare mezcal. More details here, where you can order your own bottle. 49.5% abv.
Coyote by Noe Garcia Olivera. This maestro mezcalero is from the Sola de Vega region of Oaxaca, in San Juan Bautista, a small town of 250 people about 2.5 hours south of Oaxaca Centro. Noé and his family consider themselves farmers first and foremost, and mezcaleros second. They only produce about 3 – 4 batches of mezcal a year and they believe in doing things the artisanal way. 49.5% abv.
Tobasiche by Felix Cruz Angeles. Known locally as “el gato”, Félix is a first generation mescalero from Santa Catarina Minas. After learning to make mezcal from various producers in Minas, Félix built his own palenque at the ripe age of 19. Despite being of a younger generation, Félix has conserved all the local traditions of crushing agave by hand and distilling with clay pots. He has a fierce entrepreneurial spirit and in 5 short years has begun to establish himself amongst the many renowned producers in Minas. 47.7% abv.
Mango Distillate by Jaime. On our way back from Mezcal Tosba 5 hours up into the mountains outside of Oaxaca Centro, we stopped by and met a mezcalero who is probably even better known for his mango distillate, using mangos that grow on the trees near his home. We picked up a bottle on the spot, and this is almost certainly the only chance you’ll have to try it outside of Oaxaca. No idea on the abv, he just poured some out of a jug into a plastic water bottle for us. But it tastes damn good!
That’s our lineup, and we’ll have our friend Dalton, the founder of Maguey Melate on hand to tell us more about these! We hope you can join us. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Cheers!
Drammers Club
$25/person for Drammers Members
$35/person for Drammers Observers