Tepextate - Amatengo

Batch: LEJ-02

Release date: Sautter Cigars Exclusive

Main image for the Tepextate - Amatengo mezcal webpage of the Sin Gusano project website
Main image for the Tepextate - Amatengo mezcal webpage of the Sin Gusano project website

At a glance:

  • Maguey: Tepextate (Agave Marmorata)
  • Producer: Luis Enrique Juarez
  • Community: San Agustín Amatengo, Ejutla, Oaxacan Central Valleys
  • Cooking: Un-lined in-earth horno for 3 days
  • Milling: Machete & tahona drawn by two bulls
  • Fermentation: 8-9 days in open wooden tinas with spring water
  • Distillation: 2-in-1 distillation via single pass of coper alemique with refrescdera
  • Composition: Distilled high and proofed down with spring water from Amatengo
  • Batch size: 40 litres
  • Date of production: January 2021
  • ABV: 52.0%

With this bottling we’re very pleased to offer a pure wild maguey Tepextate (Agave Marmorata) that’s been distilled in the quintessential style of Ejutla.

It’s fresh, herbal, and floral. Full tasting notes can be found at the bottom of this page.

Most communities in the central valleys of Oaxaca double distil using coper alembics (with a couple of exceptions, most notably the famous clay pot distillation of Santa Catarina Minas). However in San Agustín Amatengo and most of Ejutla, producers create a 2-in-1 distillation using a ‘refrescadera’ method.

This smart distillation set-up has a reflux plate installed inside the otherwise regular domed copper top chamber of the still. That dome also has an outer casing that’s filled with water during distillation, keeping it cooler.

When the rising vapours hit that relatively cool internal plate, they re-condense and drop back into the still to vaporise again before escaping into the cooling coil.

This reflux action means the liquid that runs off the still has effectively been double distilled - referred to locally as a 2-in-1 distillation.

Knowing when to refresh (refrecador) the liquid in the water bath is key to the process working properly.

Luis & father Sergio fitting the refrescadera to a still used to make mezcal

Luis & father Sergio fitting the refrescadera

Looking up into the cooling chamber and its plate of a still used for making mezcal

Looking up into the cooling chamber and its plate

Filling the refrescadra used for making mezcal

Filling the refrescadra

For this batch Luis worked purely with maguey Tepextate (Agave Marmorata). While these plants are large, they have a very long maturation time (can be 30 years) and offer a very low sugar content.

As a comparison, when distilling maguey Espadín (Agave Angustifolia) a producer can expect to yield one litre of finished mezcal for roughly every 7kg of raw plant. Using Tepextate it can require 10x as much weight in agave to yield the same litre of spirit.

Espadín, Madrecuishe, and Mexicano in the oven used for mezcal

Espadín, Madrecuishe, and Mexicano in the oven

Luis & Sergio uncovering the oven used for the production of mezcal

Luis & Sergio uncovering the oven

The piñas were roasted the small un-lined horns for 3 days, before being crushed by the palenque’s huge thona, pulled by two oxen.

The cooked and crushed agave was then put in both wooden and plastic tinas along with local spring water for an open air ferment of 8-9 days.

Then, of course, it’s time for the all important 2-in-1 distillation.

If you’re passing through Oaxaca and would like to try a whole selection of spirits from this palenque, we would highly recommend a trip to the Gozona bar, which exclusively stocks the family brand. You may even meet Luis and be lucky enough to get an invite to the palenque.

Luis creator of the Tepextate - Amatengo mezcal

Gracias Luis & family

House Tasting Notes:

Very light smoke on first nose, but only as a precursor to the deep mineral and vegetal tones that really shine through in this high-proof batch. White pepper on first sip, before leathery tones enter the mid palate – these have developed with time spent resting sine early 2021 distillation as immediately post-distillation this one was much stronger on the pepper and floral notes. Although those floral tones still win out once your pour has aerated in the glass for a few minutes. Hints of violet and rose dominate the finish and very much leave you wanting to go round again.

A bottle of the Ensemble De Quatro mezcal made for the Sin Gusano project in collaboration with Sautter cigars

Only available at Sautter

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