DEL MAGUEY SINGLE VILLAGE MEZCAL
OAXACA, MEXICO
WHY BUY:
Folks, these are once-in-a-lifetime bottlings. We’re talking single-village mezcals — both from small Oaxacan towns, both distilled in ancient Zapotec fashion — and of such breathtaking purity and character that they stunned me into speechlessness at a recent tasting. If you're someone who hunts for the authentic, the irreplaceable, the profoundly complex, then here it is: your chance to experience some of the most singular treasures in all of the spirits world.
OUR TASTING NOTES:
The Papalome opens with a leather-bound intensity that puts you immediately in mind of old libraries and distant travels. This quickly gives way to an unexpected marriage of briny olive and dried cherry, a combination that shouldn't work but somehow does — and brilliantly, at that, I might add. The finish unfolds with earthy mushroom notes that linger with remarkable persistence. The Arroqueño presents an entirely different proposition. Its initial cantaloupe sweetness is an alluring opening gambit, but leaves you utterly unprepared for what follows, a fascinating narrative of baking chocolate and grassy mineral notes. The clay pot distillation leaves unmistakable traces throughout, a rustic sophistication that somehow, and miraculously, feels both ancient and new.
THE PROCESS:
These mezcals represent the pinnacle of artisanal production. The Papalome utilizes wild agave that grows abundantly in the remote Mixteca Alta region, distilled in the style traditional to San Pedro Teozacoalco. The Arroqueño, from Santa Catarina Minas, begins with semi-wild agave that can take nearly two decades to mature. After harvest, the piñas are roasted in a conical pit over hot rocks, buried with earth for three days, then subjected to a long, wild fermentation before distillation in ancestral clay stills. Perhaps most remarkably, the milling is done entirely by hand with wooden bats: a labor-intensive process all but abandoned elsewhere, but preserved here as essential to the spirit's character.
METHOD:
The Papalome, sourced from wild agave, was distilled in a unique combination of clay and stainless steel stills; the Arroqueño, made from semi-wild agave, was hand-milled with wooden bats and distilled exclusively in traditional clay stills.
THE STORY:
When Del Maguey founder Ron Cooper first ventured into Oaxaca's remote villages, he discovered a kind of parallel universe — places where mezcal production remained frozen in time since before the Spanish arrived. Rather than "modernizing" these practices (the tragedy that's befallen so many traditional products), Cooper made the brilliant decision to celebrate them exactly as they were. Since 1995, Del Maguey has transformed from obscure passion project to the undisputed gold standard of mezcal, introducing the world to what was, at the time, considered a radical concept: that mezcal, like great wine, carries its birthplace in every drop. The same agave species from villages just miles apart taste nothing alike. Just as (to reference another instance of the profound and incontrovertible fact of terroir), no two appellations in France are the same.
ABV:
Papalome: 45% (90 proof); Arroqueño: 49% (98 proof).
OUR GUARANTEE:
As always, we buy and source directly from the distiller to ensure perfect provenance and condition. Secure these remarkable mezcals today, before they disappear!