Destilado de Agave Puntas Ensamble Bicuishe/Coyote/Mexicano

• Destilado de Agave produced in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca
• Maestro Destilador Gonzalo Martinez Sernas
• Blend of Bicuishe (A. karwinskii), Coyote (A. lyobaa), Mexicano (A. rhodacantha)
• Cooked in conical earthen pit oven using pine and mesquite wood
• Milled using traditional horse-drawn stone tahona
• Fermented in Encino oak vats (tinas) using proprietary well water
• Distilled twice in traditional copper pot stills
• Rested 7 years in glass before bottling
• 54 liters produced
• 55% ABV

This is a one-off batch of the puntas—the drinkable heads of the distillation run—from a blended co-fermentation of three distinct agave: Bicuishe, Mexicano, and the enigmatic Coyote. Rested and mellowed for 7 years in glass demijohns, this 55% ABV banger is deceptively elegant, with lingering notes of fresh herbs and burnt citrus.

Tasting Notes

Agave spirits are distinctive in the world of distilled alcohol in that their sugar type and low methanol levels allow the straight consumption of the puntas, or “heads”, of a distillation run. Commonly thought of as “the mezcalero’s mezcal” due to both its strength and the perceived difficulty in selling such strong spirit, the category is recently seeing a small influx of enthusiasm among agave cognoscenti. Gonzalo Martinez Sernas of Macurichos has been a vocal advocate of more traditional, higher-ABV mezcales for years, and the brand was one of the first to export straight puntas batches into the US market.

This one-off puntas batch, a tiny release of just 54 liters distilled in 2015 and bottled in 2022, is a unique ensamble—or “blend”—of Bicuishe (a subspecies of the palm-like Agave karwinskii), Mexicano (Agave rhodacantha) and the wild hybrid Coyote (Agave lyobaa, itself a cross-pollination of A. karwinskii and A. potatorum).  Proofed at 55% ABV, this is, in fact, one of Gonzalo’s lower-ABV puntas bottles, and among his most complex and expressive we’ve seen thus far!

Resources