46% abv, 2019 lote 02, Lorenzo Virgen. Ensamble is cenizo, cimarron prieto, cimarron, ixtero amarillo
Review #124: the nose has chlorine, strawberry, and nail polish remover.
The palate tart strawberry, bubblegum, vinegar, lemon juice, mint, and nail polish remover.

I side by sided this with the maguey melate virgen ensamble that had mostly the same agaves. It was definitely similar but didn’t have as much of a punch to it that the melate did. This one had a bit more citrus but less of that puke-y butyric note I got, but still plenty of acetone. I just wish this had a bit less of the astringent notes and more potency on the fruits.

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #123: salsa, cheese, massaman curry

Wild stuff. I love the weirdness coming from tamaulipas

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #122: metallic, corn, honey, cereal

This is really interesting stuff. Honestly, I wouldn’t want a whole bottle of it but it is pretty unique to sip on.

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #121: cream, almond milk, canteloupe, grated parmesan

Awesome fresh fruit and lactic notes on this, with a touch of funk with the cheese

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #120: chocolate, caramel, earthy

This is just delicious with it’s sweet and savory notes with the earthy backbone.

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #119: sea salt, vanilla, mineraly, butter.

My partner said, “like really good water”. I’ll leave it up to you if that’s a good thing or not. I felt like I was missing something from this one.

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #118: cinnamon, banana, lemon oils

Great mix of baking spices, fruits, and a bit of acidity.

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #117: cotton sweater, almond milk, buttered bread, vanilla, sweet motor oil.

Very pretty and delicate flavors with a slight grungy thing to it.

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #116: cherry, mango, soft cheese, strawberry, raspberry.

Really delicious soft sweet fruits with a little lactic note.

This review is just an impression of a small pour from a big Lamata tasting. No bottle info. Will update if I try again.

Review #115: Gasoline, motor oil, tire rubber, pine, mint, paint.

The review below sounds amazing. Definitely sad I got nothing like it.

Review #114: On the nose is lime, dried herbs, fresh pine, a juicy red apple, sweet watermelon, grape candy, salty minerality, and some ash.
The palate has more watermelon, grape, and apple up front, they start as a fresh fruit but it turns more into a tart candy, then there’s some of that weird herbal medicinal taste like Jonny said, the finish has some dried rosemary, smoked jalapeño, and ashy smoke.

This is a great ensamble. It has a nice mix of fruits with a bit of herbal notes to keep it from being too sweet. I feel the tepextate plays a strong role here on the long and dry finish that I really enjoy from this. It has an easily noticeable evolution on the palate from the sweet and semi-tartness to the more bitter notes. It has such a clean freshness to it that ends in such a different direction that keeps this very interesting the whole time you drink it. I really just wish for a bit more intensity on the nose, it feels a bit hidden at times.

48.33% abv, lote 4, volume 1C

Review #113: the nose has vanilla, chlorine, cream, and mint.
The palate has green banana, lime, pineapple, cream, chlorine, pine, mint, green grass, honey, and the finish has lingering dry spicy wood, cinnamon, and herbal medicine.

This was fun to side by side with the Ixtero and Brocha. You can definitely pick out the more creamy sweetness from the Brocha and the more herbal and citrusy Ixtero. Unfortunately I find it to have the lesser qualities of each. The delicate notes from the Brocha somehow dominate the Ixtero on the nose along with its chemical off note. And the brashness of the Ixtero isn’t softened on the finish at all by the Brocha. It has a lot going for it from what I tried with the seperate agaves but it feels like a bit of a miss.

48% abv, lote 4, volume 3B

Review #112: The nose has cream, vanilla, sweet florals, sweet mint, sweet potato, and buttered bread.
The palate is very noticably thick and oily. It has cream, sweet potato, milk chocolate, mint, caramel, bit of butyric, vanilla, sweet florals, mint, honey, and chlorine.

Wow, I’ll start by saying that the palate is very cool. One of the most oily that I have had. It is what really kept me pulled in because the aromas and flavors were pretty delicate. It had this unique potato and bread thing going on that I really enjoyed, but it also is a bit simplistic in flavor in ways too. Either way, I still like the lighter stuff going on here alongside this thick creamy palate.

48.87% abv, Lote 2D, volume 2D

Review #111: The nose has lime, orange, passionfruit, and grassy.
The palate has lime, juicy orange, passionfruit, some cream at the start but then drying, pine, grass, and nearing the finish some ash, dry wood, cinnamon, and smoked herbs.

This is interesting with the transition from cream to drying. It has a nice citrus fruitiness to it with the cream but it then changes to the herbal side with the dry wood and smoked herbs. The smoke is really the only thing keeping this a bit brash for me, but otherwise it’s really fun stuff.

Review #110:

The nose has baby wipes, baby powder, light caramel, spoiled milk chocolate, butyric, mulch, vanilla, powdered sugar, carpet, white amber, and musk.
The palate has spoiled milk chocolate, malt balls, caramel, vanilla, brown sugar, smarties candy, chalk, and some soft melons.

I keep coming back to this hoping I would like it more, but I actually like it less each time. The weird old chocolate smell and taste is too much for me to enjoy much beyond that. If there were more of something else alongside it I would like this quite a bit more, but everything feels like it’s lacking and muted. It feels like it almost has something going for me but falls short. It is pretty easygoing and I can kind of appreciate the weird notes on this, but it’s not for me.

Lote TXI-18, 48% abv

Review #109: Nose is banana, raspberry, orange scented cleaning product, vanilla, light florals, rubber, wet stone, tobacco, asparagus, smoke, leather, herbal, and raisin. The palate is banana, orange, raspberry, tobacco, vanilla, grilled asparagus, smoke, some herbs, maybe fennel and basil.

I got to try this one as a fully blind sample. I found it to be quite a fruity expression of Tepextate and I certainly did not guess that as the blind, haha. It definitely changed my idea of what to expect with this agave. I’m a sucker for the banana flavors and the light herbs and vegetables surrounding the primary fruit notes are very pleasant. It doesn’t have the right potency for me to score higher but it’s flavors are still done well.

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.

Review #107: The nose has powdered sugar, pinesol, lemon oils, old plastic, fresh wood, mix of fresh peppers, apple jacks cereal, red apples, light smoked herbs, leather, and motor oil.
The palate has lemon oils, fresh wood, red apples, honeydew, cooked red onion, and some fresh jalapeno, cinnamon and black pepper lasting on the finish.

I just did a side by side with this and a handful of other Marmorata to compare the differences in this agave. First was fruity, second funky like a Salmiana, third was medicinal and herbal, and this fourth was just as different as the rest. All this to say, I found this to have a great complexity with the woody and vegetal notes alongside specifically these sweeter crisp and fresh fruits that I haven’t found from most Marmorata. I find the nose and palate interestingly different too, a bit more brashness from the herbals on the nose than the sweeter palate with a peppery finish. I think this an impressive mezcal especially from a new group of mezcaleros and I’d be interested in where this takes them.

46% abv, lote CUAR01

Review #106: The nose has sweet florals, and light caramel. The palate has caramel, sweet florals, vanilla, crisp red apple, banana, cinnamon, and a bit of rubber on the finish.

This was the best of the wild common mezcals I’ve had. The nose was unfortunately underwhelming and light on aromas. The palate, though, brings a lot more complexity that I enjoyed with the mix of fruits and florals. It is different from other cuishes I’ve had. I would say this is a soft 7/10 but the flavors are pretty enough to give it that bump up.

Lote ESAN01, 47% abv

Review #105: Nose has vanilla, wood, gasoline, and rubber. Palate has vanilla, wood, black pepper, sweet cream, gasoline, ashy smoke, and a rubbery plasticy finish.

This is mildly okay. I think it’s too heavy with the off notes like gasoline and plastic with too heavy of a hand on the smoke. The sweet cream and vanilla are enough to keep this drinkable, but i imagine this better suited in a cocktail.