coyote con tobala y tepextate - amatlán

Batch: NGG-13

Release date: Oct 2023

It’s always a pleasure to return to Nicolas and family in San Luis Amatlán, both for their wonderful hospitality and their exceptional micro-batch agave spirits.

Nicolas is something of a wizard when it comes to ensembles, and we’re very pleased to have been working with him long enough to know which ones are his personal favourites - this rarely seen agave mix is one of them.

The batch we have here is majority (70%) maguey Coyote, with a roughly 15% mix of each maguey Tobala (A. Potatorum) and maguey Tepextate (A. Marmorata). Each of these are highly prized and relatively rarely used agave species.

The plant known as Coyote in the Miahuatlán region grows egg shaped, as seen above. It’s an entirely different species to the Agave Americana known as Coyote in other parts of Oaxaca. There can be quite wide variance in size of these plants, which are almost exclusively found in the wild. Producers who work with Coyote see it as a localised hybrid between Agave Karwinsli, Agave Potatorum, and Agave Seemanniana. Although at least one of the local varieties has been officially classified as Agave Lyobaa.

Tepextate and Tobala are a little less complex to understand, but no less highly prized, with their length maturation times and inherent natures making them relatively difficult to cultivate.

Agave Potatorum doesn’t produce hijuelos (baby clones that can be collected and re-planted, and Agave Marmorata can take half a lifetime to reach maturity.

Nicolas’ family land is rich in agave diversity. Check out the small video below of Nicolas leading a walk around the campo.

It’s the norm at this palenque to create field blends from mixed roast with various agaves that were ripe at the time. For this batch Nicolas selected only the most well roasted Coyote, Tobala, and Tepextate plants, which had spent a week in the pit.

It’s a particularly tiny single tina fermentation batch, double distilled in the palenque’s copper alembic in October 2021.

After proofing with heads and tails (puntas y colas) the final yield was just 34 litres.

Gracias Nicolas

Tasting notes: On first nose it’s floral, vegetal, and salty all at once. Tones of jasmine waft over damp pine forest and fresh cut rosemary. On first sip it’s a spice blend explosion, with oregano and anise coming through before a round mouth feel and pleasing sweetness fill the mid-palate. With time in the glass this one opens to become fruitier, with sweet and sour notes of kumquat and vanilla, all the while retaining the unmistakable saline backbone that runs through Nicolas’ spirits. Exceptional – both a distillers and house favourite.

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