Lote: 3 (Bottle: 436/645)
Nose – Huge pink lemonade blast. Melted brown sugar.

Palate – Even more, sweet and tart, pink lemonade – it’s great! The middle to finish is kind of meaty – a very smoky beef jerky. I love the bold flavors and the big, peppermint style heat. The smoke throughout is nice though, like a fine cigar and some floral notes in the aftertaste.

Nose – Great, earthy nose – wet jungle with tropical flowers. Nice banana note.

Palate – Banana. Tobacco leaf. What I love about this is the back end heat or warmth. A long finish that I really feel I’m the back of my throat and the whole ride down to the stomach.

This is a one ounce sample but I want the bottle.

Nose – Flaming kerosene. Sugar-free caramel sweetener. Wet tree bark.

Palate – Pinesol. Burnt caramel. Look, it’s not a great mezcal obviously (or even a good one but it doesn’t pretend to be… *cough, cough Casamigos*). Honestly I expected it to be worse as a sipper. Still there are much better options in the $25-30 range though but I can’t imagine this working in a cocktail (hence the 1 star rating – it seems incredibly one dimensional).

Nose – Scallions. Fresh bran muffins.

Palate – Birthday cake icing. Amazing smoke profile – it has a tasty, slight sourness to it and balanced well from start to finish. I only had an ounce sample and it was complex enough for me to miss likely a lot of quality notes it seemed. I would definitely seek out more and try to drill deeper.

Batch No: REI-TEP-001
Nose – Fresh Poblano pepper. Sugar in the Raw. An amazing sweet and vegetal nose.

Palate – Chopped up poblano. White onion. Camp fire smoke. Sweetness reminds my a raspberry jam, icing sugar on pancakes as a kid (I didn’t like maple syrup, how un-Canadian of me). Finish and aftertaste goes on for minutes. Great stuff!

Batch No. SEM-ARR-001 (2014) Bottle: 218
Nose – Smoky cherry. Raisin. Tiny bit of Hershey’s chocolate.

Palate – Excellent viscosity with a unique, silty feel. Fruit cake. A previous reviewer (stigibeu) was spot on with the fresh-baked, buttered biscuits. A hint of smoked whitefish. A great and extended, smoky oak finish with a warm, briny aftertaste.

LOT E-04-MC-20
Nose – Wet, grassy earthiness. Koi pond. Violets. Subtle black licorice.

Palate – Heat is suiting for this 50.9% batch. Very floral. Slightly chalkiness to the viscous mouth feel. Almost ripe raspberry. The smallest hint of macaroni and cheese. The finish is reminiscent of his espadin. Salty, BBQ artichoke aftertaste.

Nose – Orange blossom. Cherry Garcia flavor ice cream. Basketball leather. Very gentle, welcoming smoke profile.

Palate – Soft, powdered sugar sweetness to start. Slightly oily texture. A huge, flower stem (medicinal) and smoky finish – an exceptionally long finish at that and similar aftertaste.

Nose – Amaretto cheese cake. Baked cinnamon spiced apples. Rum sauce for bread pudding. So many incredible sweet notes!

Palate – Good heat to it at first but manageable. Baking spices. Christmas cake. Red apple. Poultry undetectable. Big smoky flavors with an odd, almost soapy, aftertaste. For me, the complexities in the nose don’t translate to the palate. I think Lalo is one of the best mezcaleros in the biz, but this one I feel is pretty average.

Lote No. LDMDGOEX-02 (Bottle 127/132)

Nose – Ahhh, those lovely funky (roasted parm cheese wafer), candy sweet (green apple jolly rancher) Cenizo notes. Yum!

Palate – Medium viscosity. Brand new tennis balls. Lawn clippings. Grape Kool-aid sweetness in the middle. Nice bump in both warmth and smokiness in the finish.

A very good, all-round Cenizo. Well balanced throughout.

Nose – Vanilla cake. New skate shoes (i.e. Vans). Tiny bit of white pepper.

Palate – Black pepper heat that I find with some good blanco tequilas that I like. Guava. Finish is a tad chalky but only for an instant then morphs to clay. A quality tobacco leaf aftertaste.

Mezcalero/mezcaleras sure can work magic with Blue Agave.

Nose – Baked Granny Smith apple. Lemon drops. A slight sour smokiness to it.

Palate – The aforementioned pink lemonade hit is real – like a ton of bricks to start. Middle becomes hotter and comes with a good slug of smoke. Very grassy finish. Aftertaste has a heavy smoked and over-salted codfish taste (more smoke and salt – slightly fishy).

Lote: PAZ-801
Nose – Cotton candy. A very light green bean note. The nose overall is light and the smoke is there but suppressed.

Palate – Quite viscous and feels like this slow releases the flavors to come. Birthday cake donut. Sprite soda. Pan-fried green pepper in olive oil. Salinity that reminds me of martini olive juice. The heat comes eventually but it doesn’t feel at all like 55% ABV (maybe in the 48-49% range). Finish has nice, tobacco smoke with a slight creaminess. The heat is an incredible slow burn even in the aftertaste – it has the fresh feeling of carbonated soda (again, Sprite) on your tongue.

There is so much right with this mezcal – the texture is exceptional and I love higher proof especially when it has this much quality. I love this!

LOT No. UVMH-29-10-19 (Bottle No. 167/672)
Nose – Slight ethanol to start. Apple. Vanilla. Smoke quality is so-so.

Palate – Heavy smoke with a metallic tinge to it – very industrial tasting. Vanilla wafer. Some citrus in there. Unfortunately this is so smoke-forward (almost burnt tasting) that you have to look too hard to find the other flavors.

The Union Uno is superior and less expensive.

Lot No: LDGROEX-02 (266/360)
Nose – Serrano peppers cut in quarters and oven roasted. Icing sugar.

Palate – Hot at first but nice. It settled down and I got a great sugary, viscous coating. More raw serrano flavor without the lasting spiciness. Finish remains warm, sweet and tasty. Smoke is balanced well.

NOTE: This bottle I have is 47% ABV, Legendario Domingo may have lower this recently from older batches of 50% ABV.

Nose – Bamboo chutes. Fresh ginger in soy sauce. Korean BBQ pork jerky. Savory sweetness to the nines!

Palate – This is more “amazing experience” driven rather than the flavors. An exceptional, quality hot and smoky build up that peaks after about 10 seconds. Very nice! Stays warm in the belly for a minute after. For me, the nose was more complex than the palate though.

I imagine this as perfect winter time, camp fire material. That said, I also reckon it would pair well sipping with a nice, ice cold bottle of suds.

Nose – Smoky creme soda. Fresh cut 2×4’s. A tidy landry room.

Palate – Thin. Can’t recall having a smokier tobala that this. Peeled apple skin. Bitter and soapy finish. A pretty average tobala, quality wise the nose far exceeds the palate.

Nose – Invigorating! Marmalade. Sweet, wet soil. Suede. Delicious smoke.

Palate – Soft, coating mouth feel that dissipates quickly. Apple cobbler and ice cream. Cigar box. Extremely tame for near 47% ABV. Finish is nice and long – saddle leather and Skoal long cut classic- the cowboy way. 🙂

Another killer 5 sentidos jam!

LOT: SLR-191
July 2021
Nose – Pear. Artificial sweetener. Medium smoke.

Palate – Watery, meh mouthfeel. Eucalyptus. Hot for 47% ABV. White pepper. Bitter, dry finish with exhaust smoke straight from the muffler.

This isn’t too bad and I’d give it up to 2.5 stars if it wasn’t so overpriced.

Nov. 2021
Gave this a try a few months later and I enjoyed it much, much more. Notes are approximately the same (I get more baked apples) but it’s tastier and smoother. Bumping this up to 3 stars.

LOT: VDM-211
Nose – Fresh orange citrus. Some mango. Low-to-medium smoke.

Palate – Excellent coating and mouth feel. Rock sugar candy sweetness. Pretty smoke forward but I enjoy it. Salty like a sharp, cojita cheese. Slow build of heat in the midsection to the finish but it not too hot. The slightest bit soapy in the finish but shades of a sambuca aftertaste – so good overall.

The extra ABV 45% for Vida de Muertos (vs 42% for regular VIDA) goes a hell of a long way in terms of being a sippable product. Vida de Muertos is much, much better!