Category Archives: -Other Drinks

Banhez Ensamble

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One last mezcal to close out the month. This is an ensamble from Banhez that I purchased primarily for use in cocktails. The price is in the neighbourhood of $30 in the Twin Cities and was recommended from a number of different directions as one of the best choices in that end of the price spectrum. As it turns out, it’s also a decent sipping mezcal and so I thought I would also review it as such.

Banhez is an interesting outfit. It is a cooperative comprised of a number of families in Ejutla in Oaxaca: the U.P.A.D.E.C Cooperative. They release mezcals made from single varietals of agave and those bottles have the names of the distilling mezcaleros on them. The ensamble, however, a 90-10 blend of espadin and barril, is a collective bottling by the entire cooperative and does not bear the name of an individual mezcalero. Here are my notes on the first few pours from the bottle. Continue reading →

Cinco Sentidos, Cuishe, Tio Tello

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I guess this is a month of mezcal reviews. I kicked off the month with an excellent ensamble by Tio Rey in Oaxaca for Vago. Last week, I reviewed a cenizo made for Legendario Domingo by the Colon family in Michoacán. This week I’m back in Oaxaca. This mezcal was distilled from cuishe/cuixe, a variant of wild agave karwinskii (from which come a number of magueys used to distill mezcal). The mezcalero is Eleuterio “Tio Tello” Perez Ramos and the bottler is Cinco Sentidos, the brand from El Destilado restaurant in Oaxaca. As per the label, the production process was pretty artisanal: the maguey was roasted in conical ovens with mesquite and oak for five days, chopped by hand with machetes, and then mashed with hammers also made of mesquite. Fermentation took place in tanks made of cypress before distillation in a copper alembic still. Interestingly, the label also says that this was distilled in 2008 but only bottled in 2024. Since it’s still a joven I guess that means it spent 16 years in glass containers. I don’t know enough about mezcal to be able to say for sure but I think that’s a pretty long time compared to most. Technically, I suppose the spirit shouldn’t change in the glass but anybody who has opened bottles of whisky that were filled decades prior knows that “bottle maturation” is a thing. Anyway, having enjoyed Cinco Sentidos’ offerings before (well, their mole pechuga, a little less), I’m looking forward to this one. Let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading →

Legendario Domingo, Cenizo

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Legendario Domingo bottle mezcals made in various states of Mexico. As far as I can make out from their website, they currently have five labels, each covering batches of mezcal from a producer in a different region: Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi and Durango. This particular bottle is from the Colon family mezcalera from Nombre de Dios in Durango. It is made from a variety of maguey that I have never tried before (though that’s true of the majority of them): Cenizo; and I believe this is also the first mezcal from Durango that I have reviewed. The mode of production is quite different from that of the Vago Ensamble I reviewed last week. That one is a mezcal ancestral, the agave ground by hand and the spirit distilled in clay stills. This is a mezcal artesenal. The agave is roasted in an undeground oven but milled with an electric shredder; and the distillation happens in an alembic still. What it does have in common with Vago, however, is the general illegibility of the label. Thankfully, the labels are at least colour-coded for the different producers, so if this review inspires you to go out and look for this one, just keep an eye out for the purple label (though I’m not sure, I think each producer makes mezcal for Legendario Domingo from the same maguey each time). Okay, let’s get to it. Continue reading →

Vago Ensamble, Tio Rey

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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. Continue reading →

Gusto Historico, Madrecuixe, Victor Ramos

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I opened this month’s booze reviews with a mezcal (this excellent ixterro amarillo from Chacolo) and so I may as well close the month’s reviews with another mezcal. This is a release from Gusto Historico, an outfit set up by Marco Ochoa, one of the founders of Mezcaloteca, a well-known mezcaleria in Oaxaca. They are relatively new to the American market. They feature mezcals that are all made, I believe, in Miahuatlán in Oaxaca. They work with a number of maestros but the few releases I’ve seen in stores in the Twin Cities all seem to be made by Victor Ramos (whose mezcal has also been released by Mal Bien). Such was the release, a tobala, that I reviewed just about a year ago and such is the release I’m reviewing today: made from the madrecuixe maguey. This species of maguey apparently takes a long time to mature and has a low yield, which means it mostly appears in small-batch releases. I think this may be my first-ever madrecuishe—I’ve only taken baby steps into the world of mezcal over the last couple of years—and so I can’t tell you how typical this particular expression is of the broader varietal. I can tell you that I’ve had the bottle open for a few days now and have really been enjoying it. Here now are my notes. Continue reading →

Chacolo, Ixtero Amarillo

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It’s been a while since my last mezcal review. That review was of an añejo or aged mezcal (from Rancho Vale Madre in Oaxaca). Let’s get back now to joven or unaged mezcal, which is what I mostly drink. Technically, what I am reviewing today is not a mezcal. But only technically. Chacolo, you see, are located in Jalisco outside the Denomination of Origen for mezcal and so cannot use that name on their labels. But in every non-bureaucratic way this is mezcal, made in an exacting manner. Chacolo use the capon method of “castrating” the agave plant as it begins to send up a flowering stalk. But where most producers who use this method, leave the plants in the fields to concentrate their sugars for a few months, Chacolo let them rest for 3-4 years. Indeed, the mezcal I am reviewing today is made from Ixtero Amarillo maguey to which the capon process was applied for 4 years. Ixtero Amarillo is a variety of agave rhodacantha, and is an outlier in their fields: all the other agave they use are varieties of agave angustifolia, from which come most of the well-known types of mezcal. Another feature of interest is that the family’s fields are on volcanic soil, which is said to confer a greater mineral quality than usual to their mezcals. They are an interesting operation—you can read more about them on Mezcalistas. Continue reading →

Grosperrin 1988 (Cognac)

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It’s been a while since my last review of a Cognac—almost exactly five years in fact. That review was of the second of two casks bottled by Pasquet for Serious Brandy. Both those Pasquet casks contained very old brandy (from the Petite Champagne region): 57-58 years old. Today’s review is of a Cognac that seems like a sprightly youngster by comparison. Like those Pasquet casks, this Grosperrin (from the Grande Champagne region) is also a sourced Cognac. Whereas Pasquet does make their own Cognac as well, Grosperrin is strictly the Cognac version of a Scottish independent bottler—with the difference that it is their name and not that of the original producer that is on the label. I can tell you that this was distilled in 1988. I’m not sure exactly when it was bottled but I think it might be 2017—at least there’s a strip at the top that seems to say that the contents of the cask were verified in 2017. If anyone knows more about how to read this kind of thing or just knows anything about this specific cask, please write in below. The pertinent information is that the label specifies that it is from Lot Nº559 which produced 330 litres at 48.8%.  That’s a lot of Cognac; is it good? Let’s find out. Continue reading →

Rancho Vale Madre Añejo: Straight and Mixed

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This month’s booze reviews kicked off with a rum: the Amrut Two Indies. Though this was not planned, it ended up becoming a non-whisky month, with two reviews of French brandies following: an Armagnac from Cardinat and a Calvados from Toutain. To close out the month, I have a mezcal. This represents novelty for me in two ways: this is a mezcal from a producer I have not previously encountered, and it is an añejo, having been matured in oak casks for at least a year. The producer is Rancho Vale Madre in Oaxaca. My friend Ben visited the distillery in February and very kindly brought me back this bottle. Unlike mezcals released in the US, this is a fairly bare bones label: there’s no detail of any kind on the production method or the variety of agave used; indeed, not even the abv/strength is noted (though I am pretty sure it’s around 40%). I was very curious to try it as the word on the American mezcal enthusiast street is not very positive on oak cask-aged mezcals in general. The thinking is that the quintessential qualities of mezcal are best expressed in joven/blanco spirit that has been “aged” only in glass. I’ve no idea what the status of añejo and reposado mezcals in Mexico more broadly or Oaxaca in particular is. Nor do I know very much about Rancho Vale Madre beyond the fact that they seem to a popular stop on mezcal tours in Oaxaca; the estimable Mezcal Reviews site does not list any of their releases. Anyway, as you’ll see below, while I enjoyed this añejo fine on its own, I think I will probably finish most of the bottle via cocktails. Continue reading →

Toutain Hors d’Age

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This month’s booze reviews have included a rum (this Amrut) and an armagnac (this Cardinat). Might as well make it a full month of non-whisky reviews. Here now is another brandy, albeit a Calvados. I’ve not reviewed a Calvados in a while—the last one was this 15 yo from Domaine Montreuil, which I reviewed in October 2023. Today’s review is also of a 15 yo, though the age is not mentioned on the label of this release from Toutain. The label only says “Hors d’Age” but it seems pretty common knowledge that the brandy inside is a minimum15 years old—that’s what pretty much everyone who sells it notes. Toutain sits on the border of the Pays d’Auge production region of Calvados and the question of which region their Calvados is actually from is a little complicated. I purchased this bottle—along with another of their releases—in Europe some years ago. At the time their releases were not sold in the US. Now, however, they are; indeed, their Hors d’Age is available if you look around online—though at a price that is quite a bit higher than I paid for it. At any rate, this means that my review will not be as useless as usual for my predominantly US-based readers. Let’s get to it. Continue reading →

Cardinat 13, 2009 (for Serious Brandy)

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I haven’t reviewed a brandy in a while. The last was a very old armagnac from Pellehaut that was one of two bottled for the Serious Brandy group on Facebook back in 2023. Here now is a review of the other. This, a Cardinat, is much younger than that Pellehaut. It was distilled in 2009 before being bottled in 2023 at the age of 13. I believe the cask was split with K&L (the California mini-liquor chain). These days I have almost nothing to do anymore with the whisky or spirits world, and no longer read any spirits-related news or websites or blogs—with the exception of my friend Michael’s notes over on Diving for Pearls. And so it’s hard to imagine that there was a time when I actually spent time and energy arguing with K&L employees online. I wonder what became of David Driscoll—last I heard, he was planning to cure cancer or something. I guess I would have heard if he’d succeeded. Anyway, I don’t know why I went on this K&L tangent. Let’s instead get to my notes on this brandy. Continue reading →

Amrut Two Indies (Rum)

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Here is an Amrut to start the month. It’s not a whisky though but a rum. Though Amrut is most famous now for its single malt whisky, they’ve actually been making rum for much longer. This, however, is not one of their old-school rums but a blend of their own rum with several Caribbean rums—from Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana: hence Two Indies. I’m not sure when it was first released but I first encountered it last December when I was visiting a friend in Coonoor in South India. She had a bottle that had come her way from Karnataka, the state in which Amrut is located. I tasted it then and really liked it. I didn’t look for it on my return to Delhi on that trip but when I was there again last month I made it a point to seek it out. Sure enough, it was easily available in liquor stores in Gurgaon (where my parents live); and since Gurgaon is located in Haryana and Haryana has some of the lowest prices for alcohol in all of India, I got this bottle for a very reasonable price: Rs. 1500 or $17.50. I opened it a few days after getting back to Minnesota and am very pleased to say that I like it as much now as I had in December. Here now are my notes. Continue reading →

Real Minero, Largo

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Here’s one more mezcal to close out the month in booze reviews. This is my second review of a mezcal from Real Minero, the storied Oaxacan operation. I’ve previously reviewed a batch of their Barril, which I enjoyed very much indeed. This week I have for you a review of a batch of their Largo. Largo is a variety of wild agave, apparently also known as Tobaziche in other areas. This batch was made from agave that averaged 14 years of age at the time of harvest. It was distilled in January 2023 in Filipino-style clay pot stills. All this information is from the rear label on the bottle, by the way. The Barril’s rear label notes it was rested in glass for six months before bottling; there’s no indication of resting in glass on the label of this Largo. I’m not sure which is the normal practice for Real Minero, or for that matter for mezcal producers more broadly. If you know more about this please write in below. I can tell you that I opened this bottle last week and it jumped right to the top of my not very extensive mezcal rankings. Here now are my tasting notes. Continue reading →

La Luna, Chino

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Mezcal November continues. Here is another release from La Luna. La Luna is based in Michoacán where members of the Perez Escot family—from which all of La Luna’s mezcaleros hail—has been making mezcal for four generations. They are a relatively recent brand but have a pretty good presence in the American market. At any rate, a lot of their expressions are available in Minnesota. I’ve previously reviewed a few of these: the Tequilana; the Manso Sahuayo; another Manso Sahuayo bottled for the Minnesota Agave Society; and an ensamble made from a mix of Tequilana, Manso Sahuayo and Cupreata. I’ve liked them all a lot. Today I have review of a bottle of Lot 50 of their Chino. Chino is apparently the name for the wild cultivar of the Cupreata maguey. As with most mezcals, there is a wealth of information on the production methods on the La Luna labels (though unlike Real Minero’s labels, La Luna’s labels dispense this information in Spanish; I like this touch). So I can tell you that the maguey is roasted in conical earthen ovens, spontaneously fermented and distilled in copper and pine stills. I don’t yet know enough about mezcal to make much of this information but perhaps it will be of interest to you. Here now are my notes on this bottle which I opened last week. Continue reading →

Real Minero Barril

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Real Minero is the name of the brand of mezcal made by the Ángeles family, who have been distilling mezcal in the town of Santa Catarina Minas in Oaxaca for more than a century now.  You can find out more about them in this report on Mezcal Reviews on a distillery tour in 2017. (Mezcal Reviews, by the way, is an essential resource for people like me who are new to mezcal.) Their mezcal is no longer officially called mezcal—the word no longer appears on their labels. This has to do with the bureaucratic headaches of the certification process: it is in fact mezcal in all but name only. The mezcal produced by the family has a very high reputation (and commands prices to match). I was lucky enough to find two bottles from a local liquor store at a significant discount last year. I’m not sure what led to that discount but I wasted no time in snapping them up. I will be reviewing both this month. First up, is a batch of the Barril, a maguey that is new to me. As per the label, the average age of the maguey used was 15 years old and it was all harvested in 2018. The mezcal itself was distilled in the second half of that year and then rested in glass for six months. I opened the bottle last week and have been enjoying it very much. Here now are my notes. Continue reading →

Gusto Historico, Tobala, Victor Ramos

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For the first booze review of the month, I have for you another mezcal. Last week I reviewed a special edition of La Luna’s Manso Sahuayo that was bottled for the Minnesota Agave Society. This week I have for you a tobala from Gusto Historico. Gusto Historico is a relatively recent brand. As far as I can make out, they are based in Oaxaca and bottle mezcals distilled by mezcaleros from the region, seemingly almost all from the town of Miahuatlan. Two of the main mezcaleros they work with are the father and son pair of Victor and Emanuel Ramos. This tobala was made by Victor Ramos. I specify this because they’ve also released a tobala distilled by Ignacio Juarez and another by Emanuel Ramos (the labels are of different colours and if that’s not enough to tell them apart, the names of the mezcaleros are on the rear labels that have lots of other detailed production info on them). I’ve liked all the (not-very many) tobalas I’ve tried so far and am looking forward to this one as well. Let’s get right to it. Continue reading →

La Luna, Manso Sahuayo (for Minnesota Agave Society)

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It’s been a while since my last mezcal review. This is not because I have stopped drinking mezcal. I’ve been drinking mezcal quite regularly, in fact. But on account of the fact that I am trying to keep the number of open bottles of any type of liquor on my shelves down at a manageable number, I have not opened any new bottles of mezcal in a while. Well, not till last week. My most recent opening is a La Luna release. As it happens, my last three mezcal reviews were also all of La Luna releases; Cupreata, Manso Sahuayo and Tequiliana. This latest was also distilled from Manso Sahuayo but was not a general release. It was bottled for the Minnesota Agave Society, a group based up in the Twin Cities. I recently established contact with a member of the group but I haven’t had time to actually ask about how this bottling came to be (or if they’ve bottled any/many others). I purchased my bottle from Surdyk’s in the summer but it’s also available at other Twin Cities liquor stores (I’ve seen it at South Lyndale Liquors as well). I rather liked my previous bottle of Manso Sahuato (that was Lot 23; this is Lot 76), finding it to be an earthy change of pace from the other mezcals I’ve had. I’m curious to see what this one is like. Continue reading →

Chateau de Pellehaut 40, 1983 (for Serious Brandy)

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Last week’s booze review was of an Armagnac. That was a 31 yo from a mystery producer that was bottled in 2019 for K&L in California. This week I have another Armagnac. This adds 9 years of age and was bottled in 2024, not for a liquor store but the prominent Facebook brandy group, Serious Brandy. And it’s not from a mystery producer but the very well-known Chateau de Pellehaut located in the Tenareze production region. I very much enjoyed the only other Pellehaut I’ve reviewed—this excellent 17 yo—and am hopeful that this much older cask will be at least as good. This cask, along with a much younger Armagnac from Domaine du Cardinat, was selected by Steve Ury, the Artist Formerly Known As Sku, the evil mastermind who runs Serious Brandy with an iron hand. Well, Steve may be corrupt and capricious but he does have a good nose for brandy and he’s told me that if I don’t say so he’ll throw me out of the group and have me deported. What a great guy he is! Let’s taste the great brandy he picked! Continue reading →