Vago Elote – Hijos de Aquilino Garcia

Lote A-17-EL-21, 50.4% abv

Review #150: The nose has corn, vanilla, cherry, lychee, earth, bread, hay, and acetone.
The palate has fresh, sweet roasted corn, vanilla, acetone, orange, touch of cherry, pineapple juice, lemon oils, and lasting on the finish is dry grass, smoke, and dusty earth.

This was one of my first bottles of mezcal that is nearing the last pour. It was sort of a roller coaster of a bottle. I kind of liked it at first simply because I hadn’t tried much yet and started to dislike it after trying lots more.
As I go through it more though, I find more delicate complexity in this than before. It’s a bit brash and sweet, the finish is pretty dry, and I do get some noticable acetone. Underneath it though is a mix of pretty fruit notes that makes me a bit more sad than I thought I’d originally be to see this solid budget bottle be empty.

LOT A-40-EL-21, 50.5%

Nose – Sweet with a tinge of tart and funk. Leather, butter, sweet corn, oranges, sour cream, musk, tamarind, ginger. The sweetness is strong, like a strawberry cream cheese. And a woody and grassy nod in the background, like lumber or fresh cut grass in the early morning.

Palate – Dry and savory; bittersweet. Orange rind, cilantro, sweet corn. A little tangy too, like fresh ginger. A very roasty flavor overall. Charred corn on the cob, brisket, and a tangy bbq sauce slathered all on top.

Finish – A soft, dry, subtle sweetness, like cream corn and orange rind, among notes of barbecue.

Classic Vago offering. Fun to sip on and definitely should be a staple on any home bar. A very unique spirit thats surely to become iconic in due time.

After dinner and a walk, we found our way to a Brooklyn cocktail bar and there I spotted a bottle of Vago Elote, I gave it a try and I’m glad that I did. The bottle was about 3/4 empty, I had no idea how long it had been on the shelves, I was not getting my hopes high for anything special. The notes that follow are from memory.

Nose: Grass, citrus, earthy, light barn yard turning into a light smoke

Palate: First note a blast of fruit citrus, than agave, grass, earth, a hint of dark chocolate, a very slight smoke.

Mouth Feel: A nice very smooth viscosity.

Finish: Long finish, complex, very nice.

At 50.2% ABV this is the best Espadín that I’ve had so far. I’m going to have to pick up a bottle at some point, I will update. Cheers Everyone.

* Lot: A-45-EL-21
* Batch Size: 1,098 liters
* ABV: 50.3%

I drink way too much of this stuff right here lol… Nose is a strong acetone, sweet buttered corn with clove and white pepper. A nice woodsy smoke and earthy cilantro/herbs. Even better after resting a month, only seems to keep getting better and better.

Always a good mouthfeel and a solid lingering finish that ends really pleasantly. Sweet and robust, an absolutely top performer for the price. This is one of my favorite daily sippers and I cannot recommend it highly enough; a definite cabinet staple.

LOT: A_36_EL_21
49% ABV

Prickle on initial nasal impact.
First aroma impression is sweet. The aroma opens with campfire popped corn with melted butter warming next to it. Citrus cuts in, like freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit. Just sliced jalapeno peppers (with ribs and seeds) on steroids compliment and balance the sweet corn and tart grapefruit citrus. Earthy, cinnamon, herbal, honeysuckle aromas develop as this mezcal opens up. Is there a touch of mint in the outfield here?
Buttery with generous heat on initial mouthfeel. The viscosity is evident on the glass.
Flavor matches the aroma but even more pronounced. Sweetness from the corn, brightness from the freshly cut grapefruit, butter and jalapeno dominate and entertain. The retro nasal here is insane …….. the outside of a fire pit toasted marshmallow provides the “smoke”.
You fight the finish – do I take another sip or do I let the finish evolve? (Let it evolve, it is forever building). This continues to develop long after your initial sip. Solid 4 stars. 5 stars for the bargain price (under 50). The sons have made their Dad proud. A must have

My photo of the bottle, which we sipped in January 2022 indicates it’s the “hijos,” that it’s 49.7% and there were 822 liters made. As one who gets his mezcal straight from the palenques, I don’t get to try the bigger brands much, but I’d been seeing this one online for awhile–and I’ll admit it sounded good to me.

After taking some time with it, all I can really say is that it tastes like a decent Espadín. I want to say I could detect those corn notes, but didn’t find them fully obvious to my palate. I’m sticking with “decent Espadín.”

Mezcal Vago – Elote
49.9% – February 2021
Lot A-10-EL-21
I misunderstood the label initially and thought that this was a mixto of corn in the fermentation and found out much later that it is more like a pechuga with roasted corn used as a flavoring element in the still during the 2nd distillation. This is what makes the difference between corn having a sweetening effect to the roasted corn having umami flavours filling out savory grilled buttered corn flavours. The smoke of the roasting of the Espadin lingers in the background. The nose is delightful with full savory roasting smells in addition to agave cooked over a wood fire. The higher ABV of 49.9% of this batch makes for a lovely mouth feel and the long tail of the taste includes those roasted corn notes throughout.

LOT A2-12-EL-20
Nose – Frozen corn (slight aroma but not much). Raw grapefruit juice.

Palate – Much sweeter than Padre’s elote. The heat at relatively the same ABV is optimized by the Hijos (i.e. less intense). More texture and viscosity from what I recall (although a side-by-side seems to be in order). Tasting some clay. Grilled, salted and buttered sweet corn on the finish. A tinge of grapefruit and some grassiness in the aftertaste. Smoke throughout is balanced nicely.

For the Mexicano comparison, I thought Aquilino’s was better. With this Elote, the Hijos take it hands down (and I quite liked the Aquilino’s). Great work lads! Seeing as though this bottle is about a $50 sipper – exceptional value here. I’d rate this 4.5 stars on its own but it’s getting a bang-for-your-buck bump here to 5 stars

On opening the bottle it smells very typical “espadin”, reminding me about Del Maguey’s Chichicapa. A bit alcohol whiff in the glass, allspice and cloves, leather and fresh agave, cornbread. Nice robes.
Some alcohol bite at first, seemingly due to lack of proper resting, so leave a pour from a newly opened bottle for a while in the glass, and/or use a copita. More cloves, and a hint of cardamom, baked agave, corn flour is absolutely there on the finish but less than I expected. However, the aftertaste keeps lingering, so it is hard to miss.

I think the bottle needs more rest to reveal all nuances, but still very fresh, spicy and interesting for an espadin, really good, excellent aperitif.

Lot A2-10-EL-20 October 2020

Haven’t sipped Elote in a while and this brings me right back to Aquilino’s famous Elote. It has been a unique mezcal on the market for many years. This version, produced by Temo and Mateo, is the same juice essentially. I’m sipping the end of a bottle but was told it was quite hot initially. This 50.3% batch has some nice warmth but no burn. Aromas of acetone and roasted corn. On the palate, there are some starchy notes along with agave mint gum. Lots of complexity through the finish. Lot A2-07-EL-20 from September 2020.

Lot A2-07-EL-20 from September 2020. This bottle had that classic Aquilino heat that faded after a few pours and after sitting it on the shelf for a week. Almost identical to the famed Elote from Aquilino. High minerality, sea salt, fresh flowers, and confectionary sugar on the nose. The palate has a floral masculinity. It’s rugged yet refined. Notes of roasted corn, sweet potato, creamy jalapeno, and marshmallow. This is really nice and it’s great to see the Elote tradition live on.