Destilado de Agave, Pechuga, 'Buried Series - Rooster Guava'

• Pechuga mezcal produced in San Miguel Atlapulco, Puebla, Mexico
• Maestros Mezcaleros Balbino & Sergio Salas
• Collaboration with chef Jazmín Ponce
• 100% Papalométl (Agave potatorum)
• Cooked in a conical earthen oven
• Milled by hand using wooden mallet and 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 stills
• Addition of rooster breast, mole negra, and guava leaf on the third distillation
• Rested in glass and buried in the grounds of the Salas family home for two years; unearthed and rested in glass for a further year before bottling
• Only 18 bottles produced
• 46.4% ABV

A spectacular example of pechuga from Puebla, this special mezcal was distilled with mole negra, guava leaf, rooster breast, and the distillate of the rare Papalométl agave. The mezcal was then buried for two years in the earth, rested in glass one year further, then finally bottled, yielding a batch of just 18 bottles.

Tasting Notes

The Buried Series is an ongoing collection of batches from Tlamati that have been deposited in large glass damajuanas and other jugs post-distillation and carefully buried underground at the Salas family home for at least a year. This dark, cool resting place allows flavors to integrate, to mellow and soften over time, and to evolve into a rewarding new experience. Each release is extremely limited.

For this special edition of Tlamati’s beloved Rooster Guava Pechuga production, Balbino and Sergio again collaborated with Sergio’s wife, Jazmín Ponce, who is a popular chef in San Miguel Atlapulco. Crafting her remarkable mole negra – with ingredients including chile, chocolate, raisin, almond, sesame, garlic, baking spices, and anise – Jazmín finishes the recipe by adding the unique and unmistakable flavor of fresh guava leaves. As is the tradition with true pechuga, a protein is added: a rooster breast is prepared as though it were destined for the dinner table, slathered in the mole, and suspended during the third distillation run inside their copper pot stills. The batch was made in 2019, then buried in the earth for two full years before being cautiously removed, filtered, and rested another year in glass and finally bottled in 2023. One of the most remarkable and most rare bottles of mezcal we’ve encountered, and only 18 bottles were ultimately produced.