Raicilla La Reina

Raicilla La Reina is a Jalisco agave spirit made by Maestro Julio Topete Becerra at Rancho Nuevo in Atenguillo, in the western highlands of the Sierra Madre. It is distilled from Agave maximiliana, the mountain maguey that signals the sierra style of raicilla, the spirit western Jalisco has made off the books for generations. The name nods to a local saying that mezcal is the king and raicilla the queen.

Topete Becerra cooks the agave in a standing adobe oven, then mashes the roasted hearts by hand with wooden mallets and ferments the mosto in 200 litre white oak barrels before a double distillation in stainless pots. The result runs earthy and faintly cheesy with a sour lactic edge from the open ferment, threaded with citrus and herbal notes, yet it keeps an interesting sweetness on the finish. A wild ride bottled at 42 percent.