Del Maguey Barril is a single village mezcal from the village of Santa Catarina Minas, made from the rare agave Barril. The agaves are harvested at an age of 18-30 years, and after 5 days of baking in an underground oven, they are crushed by hand with wooden mallets. The juice ferments for 15-25 days and is distilled in tiny 100-litre pot stills. An incredible journey before it ends in your glass.
Color: Clear.
Smell: Mineral and fruity scent with notes of wet stones, celery, lavender and banana.
Tasting notes: Melon, banana again, plum and kiwi. Slight smoke in the aftertaste.
Started by Ron Cooper in 1995, Del Maguey is the world’s leading bottler of quality mezcal. Ron’s mission is to make good mezcal available outside of Mexico; something that used to be incredibly difficult – even almost impossible! Helping to lead the mission is Del Maguey’s exceptionally well-developed moral code, which goes far beyond what is normally seen in the industry. They are not trying to exchange glass beads for gold, but to spread knowledge of one of the world’s most complex and culturally important spirits in a responsible way, which gives something back to the local communities where the mezcal is produced, which guarantees that the small palenques can do it on the the same way they have done for hundreds of years and with the greatest respect for traditions, nature and the cultural, ritual and social importance that mezcal has in small villages in Mexico.
With Del Maguey, the concept of single village mezcal became an indicator of quality mezcal. Each mezcal in the range comes from one unique distillery in different villages around Mexico. They are not mixed together to form large cuvées, but bottled separately, in order to showcase each village’s terroir – both in relation to the soil where the agaves grow, the naturally occurring yeast in the distillery, etc.
The vinos de mezcal series includes very limited releases of mezcal made from rare agave types such as tobala or arroqueño.
The bottles’ charming labels, which depict idyllic (and sometimes a little mystical) images of everyday Mexico, were designed by Ken Price.
