Del Maguey Vida Mezcal vs Del Maguey Espadin Especial Mezcal
The more I drink this stuff the more I am convinced on the overall quality of single origin Mezcal.
Del Maguey Vida Mezcal 42%
Nose: This is about as friendly an artisanal Mezcal might be I think. Quite creamy sweet – Cream soda and vanilla essence, but also a not-offensice dirty earthiness replete with resins and just some tannic stinging green medicine. Firewood and firestarters. I imagine pressed root juice and blended cacti.
Palate: Does Mezcal really need any aging? Have you tried Malt new make? Not very nice, but this.. Salty with a big brazen presense on the tongue. At once dirty, gristly, ‘burnt’ with lots of green sap, bark , black smoke and brine.
Finish: Rather long too for an unaged spirit. Getting quite salty, with dry pine bark, and distant smoke.
Del Maguey Espadin Especial Mezcal 45%
Nose: Several notches up even though the strength feels similar. This one speaks of juniper berries, and fresh pine needles underfoot. Moist moss. The green here is really forest fresh and fills the senses. Discrete smokiness, but the dirty earthiness seems to have taken a back seat to the mulch and ripe compost. 1 stick of salty licorice.
Palate: Quinine, juniper, boiled bark tea, rosemary and broken cacti.. And corn syrup. Very green indeed. A clean earthiness. Hot clay. Clean smoke. Speaks much more of its vegetal origins. Honestly very good spirit.
Finish: Rather long still, much cleaner, with minerals, branches and smoke.
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