5 Sentidos Tepextate – Sergio Juarez

Batch PRES22, 48.9% abv

Review #108: Nose has pine, lemon, fresh paint, wet smoldering campfire, spicy smoked jalapeno, pickled onion, cucumber, celery, sage, parsley, and black pepper. The palate has lemon, lime, pine, smoked sage, jalapeno, black pepper, medicinal like an herbal amaro or something, lots of wood, wet smoke, and ash.

This is wild and I love it. Really brash profile with the smoke, wood, vegetal notes, and some herbal medicine thing going on, like something your grandma’s grandma would use when they’re sick. I was a bit taken aback when I first tried this, but as I get through the bottle I like it more and more. It’s very complex and keeps opening itself up to you as you drink it.

Batch PRES22 – Released in DC Market. ABV 48.9%

Nose: Nose is wild, super vegetal and grassy, plenty of mesquite, also this like almost medicinal note, it takes up the whole room, lumber department of home depot

Palate & Finish: Burger covered in stone ground mustard, savory but slightly sweet, the sweetness is tangy and citrus, cedar plank salmon skin, grilled peppers on a wood skewer, it’s sweet but not super fruity, soft mango and guava for a split second before going back to wood and herbs, grilled carrots and corn. Finish is smoky, burnt peppers, light honey, the medicinal element is back but more mineral water like this time. It’s like a popsicle stick, natural (herbal) cough syrup, then basil and sage blast

Overall: Like many unique mezcals it’s uniqueness starts to draw you in and tough to rate. It’s got so much going on and so much complexity. It also beautifully ties together it’s different elements to make the whole. Great stuff.

BATCH TPXLE 09-20, 44.3%, 200ml, Luis Enrique Juarez

Nose – Nature after a rain; fresh cut grass, wet earth, soil. And some vegetal, ‘produce-section’ notes; broccoli, carrots, celery.

Palate – Sweet, subtle spice; anise, cloves, saffron, rose water, jackfruit.

Finish – A dry, vegetal, sweetness with a little bit of kick; sharp green bell pepper.

A fantastic destilado – it unveils itself to be very complex while you discover new and different flavors as this Mezcal takes you on a journey through its terroir. Earthy and vegetal, and maybe a little too floral in taste; like sipping a summer garden.

Batch TPXLE 09-20 44.3% 97 liter batch distilled Sept 2020 bottled July 2021. Aroma’s out of the bottle are a cold firepit the next morning after a light rain. Inside of a smoker’s car and a ashtray with water in it, but mostly in a good way. Flavors are surprisingly light on smoke mostly a light burning sensation. Long ashey finish. Slate and wet rocks on the end exhale. This gets better with some air. Very unique in the smokey dimension. After this airs out I gave it a four I think it opens up some and has some interesting Brown notes if there was a brown Jolly Rancher this would be it.

I’m still a rookie but, ok, now I’m truly blown away and believe that mezcal is the nectar of the gods. Right from the first smell of this it was all sort of a shock. This was my first Tepextate, and it lived up to the hype. Batch TPXLE 09-20, 97-Liter batch, Distilled September 2020, bottled July 2021 by Luis Enigue Juarez. ABV 44.3%

NOSE: The first impact was smoke, which dissipated quickly into wet earth or moist dirt. The smoke is like the coals of a camp fire, or an ash tray (but in a good way). Green vegetal.

PALATE: Light burn more of a spiciness, jalapeno, fruit, citrus, complex, a light sweetness, grapefruit ending.

MOUTHFEEL: Very smooth, light, goes down easy.

FINISH: light sweet citrus, very clean.

Just incredible, special and delicious. Where do I go after this? I would love to hear a suggestion from someone on what to try next. My wife also votes five stars. We made a video of our tasting you can see it here: https://youtu.be/_SKX8mFuwiQ