Mexicano - amatengo
Batch: SJP-02
Producer: Sergio Juarez Patricio & Luis Enrique Juarez
Agave: Mexicano (A. Rhodacantha)
Region: San Agustín Amatengo, Ejutla, Oaxaca
Distillation style: Copper alembic with reflux plate, single pass.
ABV: 50.4%
Release date: February 2022
Profile notes: Dry, clean, acetone nose, with no smoke. Sweet on the palate with agave-forward stone fruit flavours that get fuller in the mouth the longer you let it breathe. Not to be rushed.
The large tahona in front of the covered fermentation and distillation area in Amatengo
Ejutla is the most southernly district in the central valleys of Oaxaca. Here you’ll find the community of San Agustín Amatengo, where Sergio Juarez Patricio and his son Luis produce delicious agave spirits in the family palenque.
What sets Ejutla apart from the other central valley districts, like Ocotlán and Tlacolula, is the tradition of using a refrescador (water bath) around the condensing chamber of the copper alembic. Moreover, in the case of this palenque at least, that chamber contains a reflux plate.
Luis demonstrates the refrescadera
Looking up into the plated copper condensing chamber
The engineering of this set-up effectively creates a double (or at least 1.5x) distillation with one pass of the still, creating high-proof, clean-profile spirits.
Sergio by the oven
The roast is 3 days in a classic earthen horno. Milling by machete and a particularly large and heavy tahona pulled by two bulls. Fermentation takes 8-9 days in open air wooden tinas.
Luis with maguey Mexicano capón
Sergio & Luis work with the full spectrum of agave available to the in the valleys. This batch is 100% maguey Mexicano (A.Rhodacantha). 51 piñas produced a 150 litre batch.
Gracias Sergio & Luis
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