QuiQuiRiQui Mezcal Matatlan (Espadin)

QuiQuiRiQui Matatlan is a joven mezcal made entirely from Espadin in Santiago Matatlan, the Oaxacan town long regarded as the heart of mezcal production. Founded in 2011, the brand works directly with families who have distilled for generations, and this is its classic house style, balanced enough to sip yet built to carry a cocktail. It is bottled unaged at 45% to keep the roasted agave front and centre.

The agaves are harvested locally, pit roasted underground in the traditional way, crushed with a stone tahona, then fermented outdoors in oak vats on wild airborne yeast before double distillation in small copper stills. That pit roast supplies the smoke, while the tahona crush lends a rounder, more textured body. The nose offers sweet agave, leather, vanilla, pepper and smoke, the palate runs lightly vegetal, earthy and woody with black pepper, and the finish is gently sweet and spicy with a note of dark chocolate.