Surprisingly good Cupreata. I’m having this in a wonderful restaurant in Morelia. Cupreata is more of a Michoacan Guerrero thing. A bit of licorice. Not a real strong finish. Ordering another one now.

Nov 2019 49.1% batch bought in the Benito Juarez mercado. Now this is what other tobalas want to be when they grow up! I’m not getting any of the apples in this batch. The flavor builds and seems to rise right through the sinuses into the brain’s pleasure receptors. Had the Noble Coyote tobala last night – tart grapefruit with a salty, metallic finish. Three stars is generous on that one. Lalo’s 70% Tep 30% tobala is pretty much gone – maybe a couple 250ml bottles here and there. Hope he makes some more soon. Bought Lalo’s Aug 2019 San Martinero and Rey Campero Tobala, which hasn’t been made for a while, but those will have to wait until I’m back in Texas at the end of the week.

Agree with everyone else. Inoffensive is about as much as you can say, but there’s not much there in the way of mezcal.

Really solid in all respects. Better than the El J tobasiche IMHO. But if you are thinking Lalo, his Tep is much more complex. The depth in the middle of the Tep extends on the palette. The tobasiche kind of drops out and I would say this is true with other karwinskis. I really like the El J barril but it is a bit flat in the middle too. The exception, so far, is the RM largo made by other members of Lalo’s family about a mile away from his palenque.

Had this in a store in Oaxaca while they were ringing me up for some other purchases. First off Anejo Mezcal at 38% abv? Why? What’s the point? Ok it was smooth and tasted like wood. This is like Don Julio, which was bought by Diagio and uses recycled Jim Beam barrels to make reposado and anejo tequilas. Autoclaves? Probably ‘advanced’ industrial grinders too. There goes the neighborhood.

Had this at El Destilado in Oaxaca. When they brought the bottle to the table and poured it, I knew from the aroma it was going to be good. I would have had another, which is positive. Agree with Jonny that it is flat on the finish.

I met Lalo at his palenque today and sampled Tobasiche, Cuishe, Tobala and a 70/30 Tep/ Tobala in that order. The latter of which had fantastic Tep aroma on the nose, then a really soft flavor compared to some other in your face Teps. It was the winner in my book and the Tobasiche came in second. Super nice guy, proud of his work. He poured mezcal into my palm and had me rub it in my hands to feel the oilyness. He has probably 30 five gallon glass bottles of Mezcal in his house / store and made me a 1L bottle of the Tep on the spot, labeled it and then put heat shrink plastic around the neck of the bottle and the stopper. 47% March 2019.

I was less successful at Real Minero (his brothers’ palenque) up the road. May 10 is mother’s day in Mexico and they were closed for a big party.

Lote RML-08 bottle 19 /262 Dec 2017, Edgar Angeles Carreno. Dates, figs, and an incredible aftertaste that really does go on forever. I also get sticks in wet snow. The sweetness is complemented by the bitterness of burnt orange and oil of bergamot.

Update from Feb 11 above – alarmingly good.

2016 black bottle edition 2 209 / 250 50.5%. This is delicious, but so is the RC Jabali, August 2016 1199/1236 49.2%, which I’m comparing. Very similar, great flavor, but the finish on the El Jolgorio is superior.

I have the 2016 special edition Arroqueno, which is by Tio Leonardo. Bottle 949 / 1140 Lote AESM/001 48.7%. The label is the same, but the color has a little more red in it. 7,930kg of agave yielded 835 litres. Really nice, but was overshadowed last night by the Papa Diablo black label Arroqueno. One thing I thought unusual about this was that it tasted better immediately out of the bottle. After it sat in the glass for a little while, it lost something.

PPD-01AR 47.5% bottle 239. Magico indeed! The mouth feel on this is incredible it just rolls off the center and hits the sides of the palate in well, a magical way. Super smooth, great nose, not bitter, not sweet. I tasted this with a friend against the Special Edition 2016 Alipus Arroqueno by Tio Leonardo and the La Medida Arroqueno I’ve previously reviewed. At least the Alipus was in the ball park, but the La Medida was a distant third. Don Beto rocks! I looked long and hard for this bottle in Oaxaca and there was only one, so if you see it, don’t pass it up.

A very approachable tobala that is easy to drink. I haven’t had any recently and would have reviewed sooner, but this was added to the site after I finished off the last bottle. I do have another new one on the shelf, and with so many excellent mezcals to buy and try, that does not happen at the three star level.

This is not for the faint of heart. More like the espresso of tepextate, in your face with tons of tep flavor. For my taste though, the El Jolgorio tep is still out in front with five stars.

This is a delicious fruity tobala. I had it with dinner at Epicuro in Oaxaca about two weeks ago and promptly went on a search for several more bottles. I had some a couple nights back with some El Jolgorio tobala for comparison. The El Jolgorio is excellent too, but comes off with a bit more pine / mint while the Espina Negra has more fruit, so it’s really just a matter of mood than one being better or worse than the other.

Lot MIA-A1801 2017 harvest, 2018 bottling. Antonio Cortes Aragon. This is really quite good. Very sweet up front with some minerality on the finish. It compared favorably, although not as good as an Alipus limited edition Arroqueno I have as well. Ordered this from amazon Mexico for delivery in Mexico along with more Papadiablo red label ensamble. It falls short of the Papadiablo black label Arroqueno by Don Beto, which is highly recommended.

Edition 4 2009 1254/1550 Santiago. Not a huge nose, but sweet in the middle and a really great ending with green pepper and smoke. Jolgorios have gone a bit crazy with the arrival of pricey 250ml bottles. This is a little too boutique for me. A wild 750 espadin with age for a little more than a 250 of recent cuish is looking more attractive IMHO.

Lot B2583R by Candido Reyes 46% ABV. Good but not great. The aroma is distinctly tobala and there is a nice honey sweetness on the palette. The aftertaste comes up short; it reminds me of plastic. This batch at least is not in the same league as the El Jolgorio or Rey Campero tobalas. In Mexico, I also would recommend the Convite tobala, which is a little over half the price.

Updated on Dec 3: Head to head with the 2015 Jolgorio tobala I have previously reviewed, there is no comparison.

A year later in late 2019 – still very average and not getting better with age. This bottle is about 1,500 pesos in Mexico. Very poor value for money down here.

It was a grim day indeed when I bought the last bottle of Don Beto’s Marca Negra Dobadan. Will there be more, who knows? I did pick up a bottle of Papa Diablo Especial PPD – 005 bottle 1397 to ease the pain. Both have a very similar butterscotch nose. I realize the dobadan is not an ensamble, but there are similar qualities. The dobadan is smoother, but the PPD has great complexity on the palette, however is a bit hotter on the finish.

I’ve become a big fan of this ensamble. The PPD 9-01 batch is a bit more astringent, kind of like they threw some tep into the mix. Really good but I give the nod to the PPD-005 and the PPD-011, which is more like the 005. I also have some of the PPD-007, but have decided not to have four open at the same time. So, the 007 will have to wait until the 005 is gone. Still no luck finding the PPD black label Arroqueno.

This too is the October 2014 90 / 10 batch A-37-M-14. Not a super strong nose. Melon comes to mind in the middle. I was tasting this along with the Marca Negra Dobadan, which for me is a notch higher, but has a much different taste. Same could be said of the Jolgorio Mexicano. I have about a half a bottle left of the 2014 and will have to compare it to one of the newer Vago Mexicano batches soon to take advantage of the new editing reviews function.

This was a 250ml flask bottle I bought to top up my 1 litre customs allowance with a 750ml. Not pine, not mint, somewhere in between. Middling nose, sweet palate, nice finish and very little smoke in the overall body.