Full Review

Del Maguey

Del Maguey
Vida Blanco Mezcal

Category: Blanco Mezcal

Date Tasted:
Country: Mexico
Alcohol: 42%
93 Points
Gold Medal
Exceptional
$37

Del Maguey
Vida Blanco Mezcal

Category: Blanco Mezcal

Date Tasted:
Country: Mexico
Alcohol: 42%
Clear color. Aromas and flavors of sharpie, clarified butter used to sauté fresh herbs, grilled pear and peach, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and and lemon grass with a round, crisp, dry medium body and a warming, involved, medium-length finish with accents of butter and sesame oil, sautéed water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and lemon grass, grilled peach, and grilled cherry. Smoky, savory, mildly fruity, and herbaceous; this is the benchmark Mezcal for getting agave drinkers started in the category.

Tasting Info

Spirits Glass Style: Crisp & Lively
Aroma Aroma: sharpie, clarified butter used to sauté fresh herbs, grilled pear and peach, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and and lemon grass
Taste Flavor: Same as aromas with accents of butter and sesame oil, sautéed water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and lemon grass, grilled peach, and grilled cherry
Smoothness Smoothness: Warming
Enjoy Enjoy: in cocktails, neat, with cigars, on the rocks, with drops of water and shots
Cocktail Cocktails: Paloma, Sangrita, Tommy's Margarita
Bottom Line Bottom Line: Smoky, savory, mildly fruity, and herbaceous; this is the benchmark Mezcal for getting agave drinkers started in the category.

The Importer

Proximo Spirits

The Importer
3 Second Street
Suite 1101
Jersey City, NJ 07302
USA
1 800-837-8452

Their Portfolio

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Blanco Mezcal

Spirits Glass Copita Clear.jpg
Serve in a Copita
Blanco mezcal is a spirit from Mexico that can be made from as many as 18 different types of the agave plant, some cultivated and some wild. Most are produced in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. A blanco mezcal is distilled in a copper still (sometimes double distilled) and is not aged in oak, thus preserving a clear appearance.

Mezcal is often confused with tequila, as both are made from agave. But while tequila must be made from one specific blue agave, mezcal can be produced from eighteen different types of agave (maguey). There are two types of mezcal, those made exclusively from maguey and those made from at least 80% maguey mixed with other ingredients. Mezcal has similar aging terms as tequila, such as reposado and añejo, but generally mezcal is more of an artisanal product, so examples of mezcal vary more than tequila.

Most are double-distilled, while some are triple-distilled and then aged for several years in oak barrels. Flavors range from smoked herbs and pepper to tobacco and charred fruits. Serve these on their own, in an adventuresome cocktail, or with a cigar.