Del Maguey Wild Papalome Mezcal. This bottle is from the Del Maguey “Vino de Mezcal” line, which include the smaller scale, more limited productions they bottle compared to their regular “Single Village” line (note: not necessarily “better,” just differently sourced and allocated).

This bottle was a game changing mezcal for me, and the unique flavor still shocks me every time I drink it. It’s also my fav mezcal at the moment for sipping. It tastes literally like musky, savory, earthy MUSHROOMS, with some chewy gamey leather and briny olives thrown in. It’s WILD (figuratively and literally – the agave species is wild and not cultivated).

Mezcal can be a confusing and pricier spirit to venture into. Though the labels are often chock full of information, this can be super overwhelming and unfamiliar! What’s the diff between this and that agave species? Which region is better? What type of distillation and fermentation is best? Which is smokier?

In my experience, what I’ve found is that in artisanal mezcal (small batch non-commercialized family producers, labels with rich information on the production process), most of the ones imported from Mexico available at quality liquor stores are carefully selected for quality by the bottling companies (i.e. Del Maguey, El Jolgorio, Nuestra Soledad, Alipus, Mezcal Vago, etc). This means that for the most part there is no “better” or “worse,” just different and it comes down largely to personal preferences to discover your favorites. Out of the couple dozens I’ve tried, I have not had any I have disliked. See more mezcal bottles here.

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