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Rise and Shine: A Pristine Portfolio of Artisanal Mezcal
There’s a Mexican saying that you don’t find Mezcal, it finds you. Mezcal found Melanie Symonds in 2011, in the hills behind Puerto Escondido on the Oaxacan coast. The story of a youthful misadventure and a jerrycan of wild Tobalá is recounted in full HERE. To cut a long story short, what was meant to be a six-week holiday became a six-month immersion into Mezcal folklore and culture and spawned one of the agave spirit’s most authentic and sustainable drink brands.The first law of Quiquiriqui Mezcal: these drinks are insanely delicious. In a nutshell, these unique spirits are must-tries for any lover of terroir-driven drinks and craft spirits in general. Each Mezcal in the range is a Single-Palenque, 100% agave spirit made strictly according to the newly ratified Artisanal category. Using locally grown agave plants, hand-harvested when mature, the piñas are traditionally roasted in fire pits for three to five days and crushed using a tahona (stone wheel). Fermentation occurs outside in tinas, or oak vats, relying only on the microbe-rich airborne yeasts. The final process is a double-distillation in wood-fired, small copper stills. Bottled unfiltered, each roast produces around 1000 litres of evocative, smoke-wreathed agave spirit.
Great artisanal Mezcal embodies a level of authenticity and raw site-driven quality that is almost impossible to match in the spirit world.
The Espadín is QuiQuiRiQui’s classic, highly mixable house-style mezcal. It’s beautifully crafted in Santiago Matatlán by Carlos Méndez. Méndez comes from prime mezcal stock; his family has made the drink for six generations and that experience manifests in a bold and complex spirit with intense, roasted agave flavours and a peppery finish that is characteristic of the lowland Espadín agave.
Alongside her flagship, Symonds now oversees a rotating series of limited edition silvestres; Mezcals made from decades-old wild or semi-wild agave species. Using traditional techniques and recipes, each made-to-order batch is hand-crafted by families who have been producing traditional Mezcals in their communities for generations.
It has a super-smooth and mouth-filling palate with that juicy, peppery finish, characteristic of Matatlán-grown Espadín. Expect flavours of cocoa butter, toffee apple and citrus with a briny freshness. With an ABV of 45%, it’s got, we think, extra succulence and smoky intensity than most house-pour Mezcals out there (which hover closer to 40%). And, while it has the purity and balance to be sipped neat, this Mezcal’s depth guarantees its role as a killer base for mixed drinks.
Nose: green pepper, vegetal Palate: green pepper, nuts and cream Finish: peppercorn, sweetness and citrus
This is perhaps the most reserved and yet aromatically complex of all the Quiquiriqui Mezcals, with a bright and perfumed, almost floral intensity, followed by sweet metallic notes, and some lingering fruitiness in the background. The palate is bolder, with meaty cured charcuterie characters and buttery sweetness, ahead of an almost ferrous zing and delicate wood smoke. The texture is supremely silky and slippery, coating the tongue before sliding away and leaving a finish abounding with classic Mezcal minerality.
Intense yet bright aromas of brine, dusky earth and a little vanilla lead to a gentle background of smoke in the mouth, with layers of zesty citrus fruits, flowers and roasted agave fibre. It finishes silky smooth, with a dried-herb-like quality and a clean mineral edge.
The nose has that classic roasted agave sweetness balanced by Matatlán’s herbal vibe, and subtle wafts of earth, leather and white chocolate with wisps of smoke throughout. On the palate there’s a cornucopia of complex spices, roasted nuts and that earthy, botanical Espadín character. Terrific texture. A very long and nutty finish focuses in on roasted cacao and peppery spice.
Country
Mexico
Primary Region
Oaxaca
Availability
National
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