El Jolgorio Mezcal Madrecuishe (750 ml)

Created by the Cortés family, considered by many to be mezcal royalty, El Jolgorio is widely acknowledged as one of the finest collections of agave spirits available. 

All around the mountains and valleys of Oaxaca, Rolando Cortés and his family collaborate with like-minded maestro mezcaleros who approach their work with a shared philosophy of respect for land and tradition. From batch to batch, an individual variety of agave will generally be sourced from different mezcaleros, in different regions, reducing the pressure put upon any one community’s agave population and spreading the financial benefits among families all over Oaxaca – but the unmatched quality of El Jolgorio mezcales remains the same.

Tasting Notes: 

Madrecuishe is a subvarietal of the Agave karwinskii species of agave, which grow wild in certain parts of Oaxaca, representing less than 1% of the agave currently growing in the state.

Unlike most agave, whose leaves (or “pencas”) grow outwards from a central heart or core which remains close to the ground, Agave karwinskii develop as a long vertical stem or trunk, with the sugar concentrated near the top where the pencas remain green and spiky. Agave karwinskii more closely resemble a palm to many observers than what is typically identified as agave. Their height and intimidating spikes have led some indigenous communities to use them as a natural fence.

In addition, the entire trunk is typically fermented and distilled when producing mezcal, resulting in a spirit much higher in vegetal and fibrous aromatic & flavor profiles. There are many subvarietals of Agave karwinskii (Cuishe, Tobaziche, Barril, Largo); Madrecuishe, whose name translates in a mix of Spanish and indigenous Zapotec to “mother agave,” is typically quite tall and wide, laden with higher brix of sugar than most other fiber-heavy examples of the species. Expect bright herbaceous vegetal notes to pop alongside bold fruit and perhaps a hint of salted peanut or caramel. But also, expect the profile to change dramatically from batch to batch.