{"id":1708,"date":"2016-09-17T19:30:59","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T00:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/?p=1708"},"modified":"2016-09-29T23:04:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T04:04:18","slug":"ntss-mezcal-tasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/2016\/09\/ntss-mezcal-tasting\/","title":{"rendered":"NTSS Mezcal Tasting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"imbericoproduct\"<\/a>NTSS gathered for their first Mezcal tasting<\/a> with the following lineup:<\/p>\n

Mezcal “Fenix” de Oaxaca Con su Gusano (1970’s) –<\/strong> fruity, earthy and \u00a0herbal with a note freshwater\u00a0lake\u00a0air and a notably good mouthfeel for a low-proof bottom-shelf spirit… this is pretty good<\/p>\n

Forever OAX ($40) –<\/strong> vegetal with underripe fruit, mild pepper, mild smoke and green pepper\u2026 this is okay, but not worth exploring<\/p>\n

Tres Papalote ($63) –<\/strong> cucumber, agave, grass, white pepper, black pepper, green pepper, green apple and a good mouthfeel\u2026 not an exciting spirit, but good<\/p>\n

Del Maguey Vida ($31) –<\/strong>\u00a0vegetal with light smoke, green pepper, brine, green apple and spearmint\u2026 very good stuff at a great price<\/p>\n

Del Maguey Chichicapa ($64) –<\/strong> apple, pear, pineapple, green pepper, black pepper, green papaya, light smoke, slightly metallic… not as great\u00a0as I remember, but this is a newer batch and still good<\/p>\n

Del Maguey San Luis del Rio Special Cask – 20 Year Old Van Winkel Stitzel Weller Barrel\u00a0($120) –<\/strong> green pepper, vanilla, pear, grass, apple, nutmeg\u2026\u00a0very good, well-balanced with good character<\/p>\n

Del Maguey\u00a0Iberia\u00a0($200) –<\/strong> salty and sweet with anise, meat, apple, grapefruit, nectarine and grass\u2026 excellent!<\/p>\n

Mezcal Vago Espad\u00edn ($51) –<\/strong> roasted corn, light smoke, black pepper, corn starch, pineapple\u2026 very good and I especially appreciated the roasted corn aspect<\/p>\n

Mezca Vago Elot\u00e9 ($58) –<\/strong> burnt candy corn, corn syrup, honey, candies ginger, vanilla cream \u2026 too much corn flavor<\/p>\n

Pierde Almas Joven Tequilana Weber (Lote 02TW-SJR, 51.6%, $68) –<\/strong> green pepper, white pepper, guava, agave syrup, straw with a good mouthfeel… this is a really solid mezcal!<\/p>\n

Pierde Almas Pechuga (Lote 02-P, 50.1%, $120) –<\/strong> coconut and meat with a nice oily texture and notes of grass\u00a0and\u00a0grilled pineapple\u2026 excellent!<\/p>\n

Wahaka Tobala ($84) –<\/strong> butter, agave, white pepper, meat, plantains\u2026 not as good as I was expecting, but still very good<\/p>\n

Marca Negra Arroque\u00f1o ($130) –<\/strong> astringent\u00a0with\u00a0green pepper, vanilla and agave \u2026\u00a0disappointing<\/p>\n

Marca Negra Espad\u00edn ($55) –<\/strong> meat, light smoke, green pepper, nectarine and pear \u2026 good<\/p>\n

My winner for the night was the Del Maguey Iberico (~$200) with\u00a0Pierde Almas Mezcal de Pechuga (~$120) as the runner-up. \u00a0Both of these are a pechuga-style mescal \u2013 using ham for Ib\u00e9rico and the traditional chicken breast for Mezcal de Pechuga. \u00a0I really like the contrast of meat and fruit against\u00a0the smoky agave base. Honorable mention goes to another offering from Pierde Almas, Tequilana \u2013 a discontinued offering that is still available for about $60 (I found this bottle for $6 on a clearance rack!).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NTSS gathered for their first Mezcal tasting with the following lineup: Mezcal “Fenix” de Oaxaca Con su Gusano (1970’s) – fruity, earthy and \u00a0herbal with a note freshwater\u00a0lake\u00a0air and a notably good mouthfeel for a low-proof bottom-shelf spirit… this is pretty good Forever OAX ($40) – vegetal with underripe fruit, mild pepper, mild smoke and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[81],"tags":[80,221,208,223,220,222],"class_list":["post-1708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mezcal","tag-del-maguey","tag-marca-negra","tag-mezcal","tag-mezcal-vago","tag-pierde-almas","tag-wahaka"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p364aH-ry","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1746,"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions\/1746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mark.abear.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}