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Thursday, October 6, 2016

Mezcal aged in Rip Van Winkle Barrels











Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal Aged in WL Weller/Old Rip 10 Year Old Barrels Chichicapa...$86.99
Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal Aged in WL Weller/Old Rip 10 Year Old Barrels Santo Domingo Albarradas...$86.99


FINALLY – The Very First Public Release!
The Special Cask Finish Series

It was just a matter of time, in this case, time in a barrel, before these came your way. Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal is pure liquid art, the true expression of each of the palenqueros from their individual Zapotec villages in the remote mountains of Oaxaca. Del Maguey will never waiver from this, and will never alter in any way the art of the distiller. That said…. in our world there are many different and personal palates, each with his or her own desires, and that opens up a multitude of possibilities.
Of course, there is no tradition of oak aging in Oaxaca, and as such, we would never deign to refer to these Mezcals as traditional. That said, we have this amazing liquid art, and we just happen to have friends that work with, and therefore provide us access to, some of the most beautiful barrels in the world.
We will always remain true to the Single Village concept. Never would we blend the villages. Never would we think that we might make the Mezcals “better” by blending villages or by aging…but perhaps they could be different?
What if we could actually enhance the terroir?

We then procured eight WL Weller barrels that previously held Old Rip Van Winkle for ten years. We filled four with Chichicapa and four with Santo Domingo, and will soon be releasing a three to thirteen-month-old Chichicapa, and a three to sixteen-month-old Santa Domingo Albarradas. All that and we are still allowing a barrel of Santo Domingo Albarradas and a barrel of Chichicapa continue to age.


Make no mistake, this liquid art will always remain Mezcal, and will always remain true to the village terroir. Never will we allow the oak to dominate. They will always be Mezcal forward, with the barrel adding texture and layers of flavor, nuances perhaps, but always Single Village Mezcal with the character of the village, as you know it and love it, being the focal point. As Ron says, “We will never make a Reposado or an AƱejo, but I reserve the right to experiment.” Every Mezcal will be a Single Village Mezcal, in keeping with our 20 year history of celebrating the traditional art of the palenquero. But perhaps we will allow some oak influence, with every label stating the source of the aging, and the hours the Mezcal spent within that vessel. We would never tell our palenqueros how to distill, or even what to distill, nor have we tried to somehow improve upon their art form. Quite the contrary, we believe that they are all brilliant artists, and their art is nothing short of genius. In this project, we have just chosen to surround this art form with a beautiful oak frame, possibly complementing with additional texture, structure, or complexity, because we know that beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.

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