cristalino semi-reposado ensemble - Matatlán
Batch: JSM-01
Release date: December 2024
In the heart of the ‘world capital of Mezcal’, Santiago Matatlán, José Santiago López has established a significant palenque as producer for more than one export brand.
While hanging out for a birthday party following an invitation from friends behind the Oaxaca-based tour business Rambling Spirits, we happened across something quite exceptional.
José regularly works with a wide range of agave species and one day towards the end of 2019 was working with an ensemble of Tobala (A.Potatorum), Tepextate (A.Marmorata), and Cuishe (A.Karwinski).
The agaves were some of the first cooked in his new stone-lined horno, before being crushed under this classic stone horse-drawn tahona.
Fermentation followed the classic central valley style - open air in large slatted wooden vats.
The distillation stage of this batch is where the magic happened.
Again in keeping with the central valley style, everything is double distilled in classic copper alembics. After the first pass, Jose regularly stores that single distilled liquid, or ‘ordinario’ overnight in his large plastic drums before making the second distillation the next day.
50 litres of the larger batch didn’t fit into the plastic drums, so Jose put those litres in an empty oak barrel that wasn’t being used in the palenque. The next morning he continued with the second distillation, but forgot to add the barrel litres back to the rest of the batch.
6 months later, upon opening the barrel for another use, Jose found the 6 months aged ordinario ensemble.
Barrels for an ageing project at José’s palenque
The barrel in which this batch was forgotten
So, around mid-2020, he took that amber coloured aged liquid and distilled it a second time, creating a crystal clear reposado ensemble of these very rarely ages agaves.
An extremely unusual, accidental creation, and quite something to behold.
Gracias José
House tasting notes:
Nose: Intense yet round woody maple on the nose, with notes of old dusty library.
Palate: Then it’s an absolute flavour explosion on first sip. Herbal tones from the Tepextate unexpectedly layering over that aged oaky profile, and eucalyptus flavours - presumably from some magic mix of the Cuishe and Tobala - sneaking into the mid-palate.
Finish: Everything slowly fades into a long, complex, and pleasingly warm finish. Warm, but not to hot for this extremely punchy 62% abv. Take it easy with this one!
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