Bonete Raicilla Sierra

Bonete Raicilla Sierra is a highland Jalisco agave spirit from maestro Luis Aguirre in La Estancia, made from Agave maximiliana, the magueysierra raicilla species rarely seen in mezcal and so distinctive that one raicillero suggested it may one day need its own botanical classification. Bottled at 44.8% in a run of 150 bottles, it belongs firmly to the mountain, or sierra, side of the category.

Unusually the agave is cooked above ground in an adobe clay oven fired with black oak rather than in a pit, then milled mechanically and fermented with wild yeast. It is distilled only once, in a stainless steel alembic, a single pass that keeps weight and texture in the glass. The result is silky and warm, with cocoa, fresh plum and wood on the nose giving way to oak, quince and anise and a long bittersweet finish.