Don Mateo Mezcal Cupreata Destilado con Pechuga

Don Mateo works with Cupreata, Agave cupreata, the signature wild maguey of the Michoacan and Guerrero highlands, which makes this a rare pechuga, since most are built on Espadin. The recipe comes from Doña Delia Vargas, mother of the maker Emilio, and follows a third distillation in which a cloth bag of meat and spices is hung in the head of the pot still, here including iguana, deer and turkey alongside nuts and pineapple.

The spirit shows tropical fruit, mixed citrus, baking spice, smoked meat and caramel, with a rich and pleasantly oily texture that matches the intensity of the aromas. It is lighter than many Oaxacan pechugas, with a gentle sweetness and the restrained, savoury notes that Cupreata brings. The wide range of distillation ingredients and the third pass round it out, and at 46% it pairs well with food, especially cheese, which lifts the faint dairy note.