espadín reposado - Amatlán

Batch: NGG-14+BIM

Release date: December 2023

We’re very pleased to present this special bottling, produced exclusively for Mezcal Appreciation Society members in collaboration with one the most exciting craft distillers on the UK whisky scene, Bimber.

Bimber distillery’s single malt whiskies are highly sought after, with releases often selling out in seconds. Alongside a range of small batch bottlings, Bimber produces a range of single cask single malt whiskies, including an ongoing iconic partnership with the London tube network – The Spirit of the Underground.

This exciting collaboration marks Sin Gusano’s first exploration into the world of aged spirits. To help explain the process, a lot of the commentary on this page has been provided by Bimber comms director and top taster, Matt McKay.

In August of 2022 half of our Espadín batch NGG-14 was filled into an ex-whisky barrel from award-winning London distillery Bimber. There it was aged within a 30 litre oak cask (known in the whisky industry as a ‘blood tub’) for 8 months before being bottled for MAS members as a ‘reposado’ agave spirit, as batch NGG-14+BIM.

When a spirit is filled into a cask, it begins to ‘mature’ through its interaction with the wood, the char inside of the barrel and a controlled, gentle oxygenation. The process is both varied and complicated with a huge number of variables all affecting the end produced spirit – from the type of oak and its individual grain through to the size of the cask, the number of times it has been used before to mature spirits and the climactic conditions (temperature and humidity) that exist within the maturation environment.

This Espadín was aged in an ex-Bimber whisky cask, therefore the small 30 litre cask had been used once before to produce single malt for the London distillery. This reuse of the cask has lowered the levels of oak extraction that the cask will provide for any new spirit fill (slowing the maturation process), whilst also imbuing the spirit with the flavours of the single malt which was matured within the cask prior.

Smaller casks such as blood tubs mature spirits much quicker than more standard, larger cask formats. This is because the liquid to wood surface area is much higher and therefore more of the spirit is in contact with the wood at any one time. This has a benefit in that the maturation process is quicker – with a spirit extracting and purifying far faster than in a larger cask. However, it comes at the expense of a higher ‘angel’s share’ – the evaporation loses that are inherent with maturation.

The char within the cask helps to breakdown the wood to allow the spirit to penetrate the cask – this both aids maturation through the interaction of the spirit with the sugars contained within the wood, whilst at the same time, it also provides a purifying effect via charcoal filtration.

Thanks Bimber for the fun colab

Heads up to whisky fans - there’s a special single cask Bimber release in their pipeline. You guessed it - aged in this very same ex-agave cask!

Tasting notes from colab partner, Bimber:

The San Luis Amatalan Espadín has reacted particularly well to its time spent within the ex-Bimber whisky cask. The spirit still presents with its core vegetal character intact, but is now complemented by a number of additional nuances inherent to being aged within a cask.

Throughout the 8 months of ageing the ex-Bimber whisky cask, it has not only developed maturity, it has also been permeated with the flavours of the Bimber whisky that was held in the cask before it – bright fruits, controlled spices and a textural, oily mouthfeel.

This addition is not handled by happenstance, Matt from Bimber and Jon from Sin Gusano have monitored the cask waiting for the perfect time to end the ageing process and bottle this now reposado Espadin for MAS members.

Continue your agave spirits journey via the Mezcal Appreciation Society: