La Escondida Sotol Blanco

La Escondida is a sotol, a spirit distilled from Dasylirion, the desert spoon plant that is botanically separate from agave and grows wild in the deserts of northern Mexico. The brand is produced in Santiago Matatlan, one of the most important towns for present day distillation, better known for mezcal. Sotol carries its own Denomination of Origin from 2002 and its standard NOM-159, and the Dasylirion plant takes well over a decade to mature before harvest.
Following the traditional roasting, milling and double distillation that sotol shares with mezcal, the spirit reads complex, mineral and earthy on the nose, with the savoury, herbaceous mineral signature of Dasylirion leiophyllum. The palate is fresh and fruity, soft and balanced. Bottled at 40% and unaged, it shows the desert spoon rather than any cask, and remains distinct from the agave spirits it sits beside.