Mezcal Palomo Espadín Destilado con Mole

Mezcal Palomo Destilado con Mole is made by mezcalero Carlos Mendez Blas in Santiago Matatlan, the central valleys town known as the capital of mezcal. It uses 100% Espadin harvested at around nine years near Matatlan, and takes its character from a third distillation over the family mole recipe rather than from the traditional pechuga meat.

The agave is quartered with axes and roasted underground over pine and mostly oak for five days, then crushed with a horse drawn stone tahona. Fermentation runs naturally in old wooden tinas on ambient yeast, with the fibres left in for the first distillation to reinforce the agave before a second copper pass. For the final distillation the spirit is macerated four weeks with thirty ingredients from the grandmother's secret mole recipe, giving notes of chilli, peanut and spices such as cinnamon over the cooked agave, and a herbal aftertaste. Bottled at 46%.