Mexicat Mezcal Tasting Set
Alvarez believes roasting the agaves in clay ovens creates a spirit that is more pure, a spirit in which the flavors and aromas of the ingredients are not obscured by wood smoke or by the earth that is used to cover a palenque (pit-oven).
In this tasting set, you will try three of Mexicat's best:
MEXICAT Raicilla Sierra Every bottle has an individual hand-made huichol bead mask; people collect them. From Mascota in the Sierra Madre Occidental, double-distilled in copper at the destilería of 4th-generation José and Benito Salceda, agronomist brothers and raicilla pioneers deeply engaged in a large sustainability project cultivating agave Maximiliana (called lechuguilla). Flavorful and soft. Double distillation tends to show a smoother side of raicilla, and the 40% abv nicely balances the intensity of the wild Maximiliana.
MEXICAT Rare Agave Spirit Silver: Manso Another hand-distillation by Don Lupe Castro in Mezquital de Oro, Zacatecas, close to tequila territory. The agave salmiana is a cultivated agave, here called manso. Don Lupe’s version is extremely well distilled: softly rich, round, citric, and spicy. Amazing price for the quality.
MEXICAT Sotol Artesanal Dasylirion Wheeleri from 4th and 5th generation distillers Norma & Bienvenido Fernandez, using artisanal methods in Madera at 6500 feet in the mountains of Western Chihuahua. Smoky, earthy, but very clean; fruity and intense; long finish: best sotol we have tasted. The Nahuatl word from which sotol derives is tzotollin, a small palm tree. There is a local belief that it means sweetness in the head, and that’s certainly what this sotol is.
Mexicat is the brainchild of Jorge Alvarez, who discovered raicilla while working in the tequila industry. He sees raicilla as the highest form of spirits distilled from agave.
There’s more. Each cat on each bottle is an individual handmade creation of a Huichol artist. It takes a full day to make three cat faces. Preserving traditional artisanal craftsmanship is a deliberate goal, both by sponsoring a craft agave spirit and by providing a livelihood to Huichol artisans.
The Huicholes retreated into remote mountainous terrain in Jalisco, Nayarit, and Zacatecas to escape Spanish influence. They live very simply and have preserved their ancestral spirituality. The Huicholes are noted for using peyote in religious ceremonies. Their elaborate yarn weaving and beadwork has shamanistic overtones, and the imagery is often based on dreams.
Mexicat raicilla is 100% agave Maximiliana, a large silvestran agave of unusual deep flavor, specifically a local variety known as lechugilla tipica (there are three main Maximiliana varieties: típica, pencas caidas, and pico de aguilar). Maximiliana looks like a giant cousin of the famous tobalá: they share a reputation for complexity.
Mexicat has started a massive sustainability program with the Maximiliana. Its major fields are now 4-5 years old. Mexicat raicilla is now 80% wild agaves; that percentage will be reduced as the cultivated fields come on line.
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