Pechuga - Tlacolula

Batch: CMR-03

Release date: December 2024

At a glance:

  • Maguey: Espadín (A. Angustifolia)
  • Producer: Catalina Monterosa Ruiz & Son Laureano
  • Region: Tlacolula de Matamoros, Tlacolula District, Oaxaca Central Valleys
  • Cooking: Classic in-earth horno
  • Milling: Machete & horse drawn tahona
  • Fermentation: Slatted ooden tinas
  • Distillation: Pechuga style - 3rd distillation with chicken, herbs & fruits, copper alembic still
  • Composition: Purified water
  • Batch size: 400 litres
  • Date of production: September 2023
  • ABV: 45.4%

On the outskirts of Tlacolula de Matamoros, Catalina Monterosa and her son Laureano keep a palenque and attached shop next to their house - Mezcal Rancho Blanco.

This is the Tlacolula district, the proclaimed ‘world capital of mezcal’, which also encompasses the town of Santiago Matatlán, where the majority of exported mezcal is made.

There’s a lot of different flavoured and infused mezcales in this area, most of which aren’t especially exciting to us. But this fun pechuga stuck with us some years back, and here we are pleased to present our third batch from the Monterosa family. This one with a particularly herbal forward profile.

This batch has followed a classic artisan mezcal production method:

Cultivated maguey Espadín (A.Angustifolia) was cooked in a conical earthen horno for a week, before being crushed by horse drawn tahona.

The sweet mashed agave was then fermented for just 24 hours in large slatted open-air wooden tinas.

  • Cultivated maguey Espadín (A.Angustifolia) was cooked in a conical earthen horno
  • mashed agave fermenting in large slatted open-air wooden tinas.

Distillation at Rancho Blanco is in classic copper alembic stills.

Then of course the key element to the pechuga style is an extra 3rd distillation with a chicken breast suspended in the condensing some of the still, and various fruits & herbs added the the boiling pot along with the already double distilled liquid.

The Rancho Blanco pechuga recipe includes: Lime, Apple, Orange, Guava, Pineapple, and tea, and a secret mix of herbs.

  • A man filling the fire below a copper pot still used to make mezcal
  • adding wood to a woodfire heating a copper pot still for mezcal

Multicolumn

Multicolumn

Catalina, creator of the Pechuga - Tlacolula mezcal

Gracias Catalina

House Tasting Notes:

Nose: Herbal and inviting, with notes of sweet cooked Espadín, coriander, and a background of tropical fruits.

Palate: The same balanced profile comes through on first sip. Strong herbal tones like oregano and a little marijuana lead the way. Guava and tropical fruits open up in the deliciously sweet mid pallet.

Finish: Mellow and smooth with just the slightest hint of rounding from the protein/pechuga style.

Note from SG: Those familiar with our previous two releases of this Pechuga will find this significantly more herbal (previous batches were more citrus forward). But it retains its light overall pechuga compared to many much heavier versions out there.

a bottle of the Pechuga de Espadin mezcal bottled exclusively for the Sin Gusano project

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