Mezcalosfera Mezcal Barril Molienda con mazo

Mezcalosfera is the export project of the Mezcaloteca tasting library in Oaxaca City, releasing one off small lots from small and often remote palenques. This bottling was made in 2019 under maestro Margarito Cortès and carries the note molienda manual con mazo, meaning the roasted agave was separated from its fibres entirely by hand with a wooden mallet, with no machinery and no tahona at any point. The batch ran to just thirty litres.

Barril is a wild member of the Agave karwinskii complex that can take fifteen to twenty years to mature, growing in tall barrel like stalks often used as living field fences. The karwinskii forms lean dry and mineral, with green herbal and savoury character and a faint earthy depth. Pit roasted and copper distilled in the artesanal style and bottled at 47%, it reads stony and herbaceous with the texture that slow hand milling brings.