Del Maguey San Luis del Rio Mezcal

Del Maguey San Luis del Rio is a single village joven made from Espadín in the town of San Luis del Rio, Oaxaca, set around 2400 metres in a narrow valley of steep slopes thick with agave, with the Rio Hormiga Colorada running through it. Del Maguey, founded in 1995 by artist Ron Cooper, was the first brand to name each mezcal for the village where it is made, with each bottling produced by a single family palenquero in the traditional way.

The agave is pit roasted, crushed and twice distilled by hand in the artesanal manner of the central valleys. The profile is spicy, fruity and smoky with a high citrus note that the valley's bright Espadín tends to give, the pit cook carrying a clear thread of roasting smoke rather than peat. Bottled undiluted at 47%, it sits among the brighter, more fruit forward expressions in the Del Maguey range.