He truly is a maestro. On our visit in September, my favorite takeaways were a penca larga , a jablai/madrecuiche ensamble, and a cuiche/espadin/madrecuiche...but it was like picking a favorite child..all of their stuff is so good.
(We started at palenque Los Tres Carnales with the Vasquez family and Hugo Garcia, then went across the road to visit Celso Garcia Cruz, then finished with Hermogenes. After we'd been tasting with him for a bit, the door burst open and the entire crews from the prior two stops poured in...and we suddenly had 20 people and more than 20 varietals being poured....and the rest is a happy but hazy memory.
So, I'm going to guess your next stop was...Celso!?
Hey Jeff! I know about that Penca Larga. I had some last April (2022) while there, but I think it's the same as the Penca Larga I bought from Mogen in 2020. Max Rosenstock of NETA Spirits tells me it's not even made of an agave, but instead with Furcraea plants, which is what they make a spirit called Cocuy from in Venezuela. Wow, huh? To me it has the essence of roasted peanuts.
I don't think I've met all of Los Tres Carnales, but we did go see Ramón García Sánchez last April too. I wanted to go see him again this year, but we spent too much time at Mogen's! I'd also loved to have gone to Celso's, but no...that wasn't where we went next. Stay tuned. :-)
You mention a Cuixe/Espadin/Madrecuixe. I know it's not the same as the one I got from him probably 8 years ago, but believe it or not I originally hoarded 160 liters of it back then. I still have about 25 liters of it left. For years it was my go-to, signature mezcal. It's soooo good. I was told that, instead of cooking everything together as is common there, this one was actually a cold mix of three separate distillations. Just amazing stuff.
The Jabalí/Madrecuixe ensamble was one of the ones I mentioned in this article. Freaking crazy delicious.
I believe you the you say you hoarded that many liters..its that good. Man, I need to add a side-trip to visit you and your collection on one of my next Oaxaca visits. San Miguel isn't that far out of the way....*s*.
That’d be great, Jeff. We actually have a Friday afternoon/evening mezcal meetup where anywhere from 17 to 35 people get together to eat, sip and laugh. But I’ll be happy to have you to the house for a tasting too. 👍
He truly is a maestro. On our visit in September, my favorite takeaways were a penca larga , a jablai/madrecuiche ensamble, and a cuiche/espadin/madrecuiche...but it was like picking a favorite child..all of their stuff is so good.
(We started at palenque Los Tres Carnales with the Vasquez family and Hugo Garcia, then went across the road to visit Celso Garcia Cruz, then finished with Hermogenes. After we'd been tasting with him for a bit, the door burst open and the entire crews from the prior two stops poured in...and we suddenly had 20 people and more than 20 varietals being poured....and the rest is a happy but hazy memory.
So, I'm going to guess your next stop was...Celso!?
Hey Jeff! I know about that Penca Larga. I had some last April (2022) while there, but I think it's the same as the Penca Larga I bought from Mogen in 2020. Max Rosenstock of NETA Spirits tells me it's not even made of an agave, but instead with Furcraea plants, which is what they make a spirit called Cocuy from in Venezuela. Wow, huh? To me it has the essence of roasted peanuts.
I don't think I've met all of Los Tres Carnales, but we did go see Ramón García Sánchez last April too. I wanted to go see him again this year, but we spent too much time at Mogen's! I'd also loved to have gone to Celso's, but no...that wasn't where we went next. Stay tuned. :-)
You mention a Cuixe/Espadin/Madrecuixe. I know it's not the same as the one I got from him probably 8 years ago, but believe it or not I originally hoarded 160 liters of it back then. I still have about 25 liters of it left. For years it was my go-to, signature mezcal. It's soooo good. I was told that, instead of cooking everything together as is common there, this one was actually a cold mix of three separate distillations. Just amazing stuff.
The Jabalí/Madrecuixe ensamble was one of the ones I mentioned in this article. Freaking crazy delicious.
I believe you the you say you hoarded that many liters..its that good. Man, I need to add a side-trip to visit you and your collection on one of my next Oaxaca visits. San Miguel isn't that far out of the way....*s*.
That’d be great, Jeff. We actually have a Friday afternoon/evening mezcal meetup where anywhere from 17 to 35 people get together to eat, sip and laugh. But I’ll be happy to have you to the house for a tasting too. 👍