Mezcal Vago Espadin Joel Barriga 2022

Mezcal Vago bottles each release under the name of the maestro who made it, and this Espadin comes from Joel Barriga, working in the Ejutla and Miahuatlan districts of southern Oaxaca. Made from Agave angustifolia and certified as mezcal, it sits in the joven class, unaged so the agave and the cook lead. Mezcal Vago works through a traditional palenque and bottles without additives.

The piñas are crushed with a stone tahona and the spirit is distilled in a copper refrescadera, a cooling pot still common around Ejutla and Miahuatlan. The result has a thick, oily mouthfeel, warm and dry, opening on lemon zest and peppercorns with light vanilla sweetness and a creep of blueberry, strawberry and mango. Earth, salt and wet mineral notes run beneath. Bottled at 50.5%, the proof carries the agave fingerprint undiluted across a medium, lively finish.