Mezcal Vago has a colourful origin story—which you can read on their website—and bottles with colour-coded labels that are not very easy to read. The most important information comes—since, I think, their brand design a couple of years ago—from the colour of the label, which indicates which of the four Oaxacan mezcaleros they work with has produced the spirit in the bottle. The deep red label of this bottle, for instance, identifies the mezcal as the handiwork—and I do mean handiwork, as the cooked agave is mashed by hand before fermentation and distillation in barros or clay pot stills—of Salomon Rey Rodriguez, better known as Tio Rey. The broad strokes are legible enough on the front of the label: the mezcal is an ensamble comprised of spirit made from the espadín, arroqueño and coyote magueys. But if you want to find out the exact composition from the side of the label, you’ll need very strong eyes and/or reading glasses. As the owner of eyes that are weaker every year, and of very cheap reading glasses, I needed to take a picture with my phone and blow it up to read the text. I was eventually able to make out that this batch contains 68% espadín, 20% arroqueño and 12% coyote; and also that every ensamble produced by Tio Rey is unique in composition and therefore profile. (And it turns out that, in keeping with the general handmade ethos of the operation, even the labels are produced from the recycled mash from the distillation.) So unless it’s from the same batch as mine (see the lot number below), these notes may not have much to do with your bottle of Vago Ensamble from Tio Rey. With that caveat, let’s see what this is like.

By the way, most references online to Tio Rey’s practices refer to smaller batch sizes than this one which yielded 551 liters.

Vago Ensamble, Tio Rey (50%; Lot S-01-EAC-23; from my own bottle)

Nose: Earthy and herbal to start. Green notes start emerging quickly (cut grass, bell pepper, lime rind) but the earthy character is dominant. With more time the lime begins to come to the front and there’s a creamy quality too. A few drops of water dampen the earth and make the whole a bit brighter.

Palate: More vegetal here to start with the earthy character emerging more fully as I swallow along with some smoke. Packs a good bite at 50%; rich texture. On subsequent sips there’s more acid (lime) and then salt. Water makes it more approachable and brings out the cracked pepper earlier

Finish: Long. Some astringency/bitterness here (vegetal as well) but it’s more bracing than off-putting. With time some sweetness emerges to join the bitter notes (which now include cracked pepper).

Comments: A very interesting ensamble that presents both an earthy and a brighter side; the emphasis falls finally on the more austere end of the spectrum. I don’t know when/if I’ll see another batch locally but I’d be interested to see how the series varies.

Rating: 88 points.