Clear Libations

Derrumbes have offered good QPR in the past; I really enjoyed their Durango, which was my first bottle of mezcal. Let's see about this one.

Nose It's green - raw green pepper, padron peppers, jalapenos, big bunches of spearmint and peppermint. Mild sweetness, drop of lemon juice and white pepper, a little barn/manure funk? This is really aromatic, not massively complex but very nice.

Palate Nice arrival, with a decent perceptual sweetness, candied padron peppers, gently smoky, earthy. Very good full coating texture. A little cream cheese, more of that mint, remains pleasantly sweet, savoury, earthy, with a slight citric and mineral grip, going on quite long. Can take a drop of water but pretty much perfect at strength.

Comments The price on this is creeping up but at around €40 this was a steal and it remains very good at a slightly higher price. Not super complex but a lot of character and very drinkable, holding its own in this line up. Another winner from Derrumbes.

Price around €45 per 70cl.

Score^?7/10

101 bottles for the Aficionados group of spirits nerds. 39% Madrecuixe, 36% Espadin, 25% Bicuixe, bottled at still strength – not too common too see such a proof in this world, but very welcome.

Nose Very punchy and a nice sharpness: apple pie with plenty of cinnamon, toast, lots of cider vinegar, sage, thyme, oyster mushrooms. A little marzipan. It's quite high toned, and a touch solventy. This is really nice, love that streak of acid, and the mix of sweet and savoury notes just works. Later there is some papaya, canteloupe, and pool water.

Palate Punchy, with a good sweetness, powdery (talc?), grapes. Develops on those mushrooms, lamb's ear, grapefruit mercaptan (the meeting point of grapefruit and alliums?). Then that apple pie appears with all that sweet cinnamon. Very mineralic, limey finish, rather long, with some musty attic, old shed and hazelnuts.

Comments Oh, this is really good. Worth taking some time, and adding some water.

Price around €126 per 75cl.

Score^?7+/10

One of these tiny batches from NETA, this one for Europe. Another field blend, similar to the Cinco Sentidos but with Jabalin in the place of Espadin. NETA state: "We we able to purchase half of this batch while the rest was sold locally to friends of the family".

Nose This one is rather weirder, and has many layers. On the one hand there is a big perceptual sweetness that runs along the lines of sweet potato, cooked pumpkin, but also candy necklace. Then there is slate, honey, okra, charring sage. A few drops of balsamic vinegar and slightly solventy (but nice) high tones. It's carried by an elegant puff of smoke from a coal barbecue. Actually it smells an lot like a old garden shed, with bags of charcoal and compost, mothballs, and few old banana skins for good measure. This rewards some patience, really rather complex.

Palate Bold and grippy, rather floral (laundry powder, violets) at first, develops on earthy root veg, then sweet balsamic vinegar, candy necklace. A little water resolves things slightly, giving everything more room. Cream cheese joins, along with some sweet pink grapefruit and that coal smoke. Very long finish, with earthy sweet potato, sage and mushrooms.

Comments Typically high quality NETA. Give it some time. I found this floral dominant on the palate for a while, but it's gradually revealing its subtle charms.

Price around €110 per 70cl.

Score^?8-/10

I'm very far from an expert on agave spirits, so I recall for myself that Raicilla is agave distillate from Jalisco. There several batches of this Sierra del Tigre out there, some with different varietals. I highly recommend the report on Mezcalistas, which includes some photos and information on Don Luis Contreras and his distillery. The bottle has quite a lot of tiny floaters and sediment: delicious precipitate.

Nose Punchy, hugely fruity and lactic: a mixture of mango candy, fresh orange juice, orange Fox's glacier fruits, nacho cheese powder. There's also a fatness, sunflower seeds, salty blue cheese, and sour cream. Cucumber and mint provide some freshness, along with higher solventy tones. Later there are sweet yellow and orange bell peppers on a coal grill, cream cheese, white and pink peppercorns.

Palate Really luxurious from the off; almost gloopy and, dare I say, smooth. The flavour is rich, exploding with orange and mango, some mustiness, grapefruit mercaptan, sweet peppermint tea, sage, and cool ranch Doritos (trust me, it works). This is so fat, a total texture bomb. The finish is very long with a remarkable development in which oranges fade before suddenly resurging many seconds later, this time with a little bitterness of the peel. It can take a drop of water too, which amps up the creaminess.

Comments I love this bottle and regret not buying more when I had the chance. Not the most complex agave distillate out there, but just so good. Very much in agreement with Different Spirits that the texture makes this, though I found perhaps a bit less cheese and more fruit in this batch.

Price around €100 per 70cl.

Score^?8/10