Mezcal Espadilla

• Mezcal produced in San Cristobal Lachirioag
• Maestro Mezcalero Edgar Gonzalez Ramirez 
• 100% Espadilla (A. angustifolia Haw)
• Cooked in a conical earthen pit oven with adobo top, fired by collected driftwood
• Milled using a traditional stone tahona mill drawn by a horse
• Fermented in open-air pine vats (tinas)
• Distilled twice using traditional copper pot stills
• The nose is green and vibrant with underripe banana peel, mango skin, pine needles, and an acidic touch of tepache. A palate of sweet plantain, herbed goat cheese, and papaya with a finish of winter spice and lingering smoke.
• 49.21% ABV (ABV may vary batch to batch)

A delightful new line extension from cousins Edgar and Elisandro, this batch is not to be confused with Oaxaca’s more common agave variety, Espadín. A separate subspecies of A. angustifolia, Espadilla is endemic to the northern mountains of the state and particularly to the neighboring state of Puebla, where it is the dominant cultivated varietal. Edgar and Elisandro have been sourcing young plants from around their Sierra Norte community for years now, transplanting them near the family palenque to cultivate. Reaching sexual maturity more rapidly than its sibling Espadín, the agave used in this batch all delivered their reproductive stalk (quiote) at just five years old. Sugar content, however, is much lower by weight in Espadilla, so a portion of the plants were harvested capón for 3 to 6 months—a process of cutting off the quiote and redirecting sugars into the plant’s heart to saturate more yield. The resulting mezcal is among the richest and most complex we’ve seen yet from Tosba.