Rey Campero Pechuga de Codorniz Mezcal 2022

Rey Campero Pechuga de Codorniz is a pechuga mezcal made from Maguey Espadin, the cultivated Agave angustifolia, in Candelaria Yegole in the southern highlands of Oaxaca. Rey Campero, meaning king of the countryside, was founded by maestro mezcalero Romulo Sanchez Parada and speaks for a village fully given over to artisanal mezcal. Pechuga is legally a destilado con, a distillation run with added ingredients, here built around codorniz, quail.

What sets this apart is restraint: unlike makers who distil their pechuga three times, maestro Vicente Sanchez Parada distils only twice. After the first run he suspends around 25 grilled quail breasts in the still along with grilled pineapple, grilled banana and grilled corn, so the fruit and spice lift the spirit while the meat only tempers and rounds it. It then rests three months in glass before bottling. At 48.4% the aroma offers green apple, fresh cherry, cranberry, mint and sweet cooked agave, the palate turning to peanut, wet leaves, grilled corn and black pepper.