A three agave varietal mezcal blend from the highly esteemed Bozal bottlers.

Bozal means “wild” or “untamed” in Spanish, and the company have taken this name as it reflects the wild agave that the company chooses to work with.

This “Ensamble” bottling uses a base of three different agave strains: Espadin, Barril and Mexicano.

Espadin will be familiar to most mezcal and Tequila aficionados, as it is the genetic parent of the Blue Weber Agave, which must be used to produce Tequila. A subspecies of the Angustifolia Family, Espadin is also the main agave used in mezcal production, and typically produces a rich, smoky and earthy spirit with some floral notes.

Barril is a type of wild agave with an unusually thick foliage. In Oaxaca, it is often used as a fence to divide land. Barril typically produces a complex spirit with notes of citrus, flowers, green bell peppers and creamy banana. The plant is part of the Karwinskii family of Agave.

Mexicano is another lesser known wild agave strain, which thrives in the wetter lowland regions. A member of the Rhodacantha family of agave, Mexicano can grow to be a considerable size, and is harvested at around ten years old. Mature Mexicano specimens have a high concentration of sugar, producing extremely powerful and rich mezcal, with a distinctly herbaceous and earthy profile.

The agaves used in this bottling were grown in the villages of Ejutla de Crespo and San Dionisio, in the province of Oaxaca. This mezcal has been produced in the traditional fashion, using earthen pits to cook the piña and a stone, horse-drawn wheel, to crush them. Open air fermentation with natural yeast is also used, before distillation is performed old fashioned copper pot stills. The three spirits in this blend have been produced separately by mezcaleros Fermin Garcia, Lucio Bautista and Don Adrian Bautista.

The final product is a light, approachable mezcal blend – almost in the mode of the more approachable Scotch whisky blends. The spirit serves up notes of smoky, herbaceous agave, accompanied by lemon and lime juice, fresh meadow flowers, guava flesh, roasted mango, some more woodsmoke, jalapeno and minerality.

Bozal created the rustic ceramic bottle to recall the terracotta dishes used to sip mezcal. The light ochre hue of this bottling reflects the light earthiness of the spirit within.

• Distillery / brand
  Bozal
• Country
  Mexico
• Non-chillfiltered
  No
• Natural colour
  Yes
• SKU
  041797