Destilado de Agave Pechuga 'Quail Traditional'

• Pechuga produced in San Miguel Atlapulco, Puebla
• Maestro Mezcaleros Balbino & Sergio Salas in collaboration with chef Jazmín Ponce
• 100% Espadilla (Agave angustifolia)
• Cooked in a conical earthen oven
• Milled by hand using wooden mallet & canoa in addition to a small mechanical grinder
• Fermented with ambient yeast and spring water in stainless steel tanks
• Distilled three times using traditional copper pot still
• Addition of quail, adobo spices, and pipicha leaf on third distillation
• Nopales, strawberry bonbons, blue flowers, cotton candy grapes, petrichor, French toast, sweet carrots, vanilla bean, jasmine, and a musky note of fresh leather
• 65 bottles produced
• 48.6% ABV (ABV may vary batch to batch)

Maestro mezcalero Sergio Salas hunted the quail used to make this batch of pechuga with his father, Balbino. Sergio’s wife, the chef Jazmín Ponce, prepared the bird with an heirloom adobo recipe before it was added to the copper pot still during a third distillation of Espadilla mezcal.

Tasting Notes

The majority of pechuga—particularly commercial ones—rely on poultry (rooster, turkey) for the protein component of their recipe. Small and delicate, the tradition of making quail (codorniz) pechuga is historic in the Sierra de Tentzo region of Puebla, where maestro mezcalero Sergio Salas hunted the birds and distilled the mezcal with his father, Balbino.

For this batch, created in collaboration with the chef Jazmín Ponce (who also happens to be Sergio’s wife), the tiny bird was covered entirely in an heirloom family adobo recipe. The agave is cooked, milled by hand, fermented, and distilled twice, then the adobo-laced quail is suspended in the copper pot still for a third distillation of about 2 hours. A tiny amount of pipicha leaf (also known as tepiche) is added to the spirit as well—its distinctive aromatics of pine, mint, citrus, and cilantro helping to cut back the perceived fattiness of the quail distillate. A beautiful example of local heritage and a rare privilege to taste. Only 65 bottles were produced at 48.6% ABV.

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