[00:00:00] Most people think of mezcal, they think one thing, smoke. But what if I told you there was a mezcal that intentionally made it have less smoke so you can actually taste the agave? Today we're going to review both the Disolas Blanco and Reposado. These bottles were sent to me as a gift, so I want to say thank you for the opportunity to try them. Also, if you like tequila and you're not getting the Tequila Report newsletter every single week in Your email like 62,000 other subscribers are, why not? If you want to learn about tequila, see reviews, get industry news and get some amazing articles sent to your email for free. Check it out at the tequila report.com subscribe now. Let's dive into this Mezcal. This one is made in San luis potosi under NAM AAMA 178. Instead of using espadine like most mezcals, this is made from 100% Salmiana agave. Samiana is often called the Green Giant because it takes 20 to 25 years to mature in the dry, mineral rich soils before it's finally harvested. That is an incredibly long time to wait for just one bottle. This brand was founded by Gigi Mervis when she was just 21 years old, still attending Columbia University. During her travels through Mexico, she realized most mezcals coming into the US Were being judged about how smoky they were. She wanted to create something that people actually could experience the gave itself. So she partnered with Maestro Mezcalero Manuel Olivia, a multigenerational distilling family in San Luis Potosi. One of the biggest differences here is how it's made. Traditional mezcal is cooked underground earthen pits, which is where the smoke usually comes from. These guys skip that completely. They slowly cook the pinas in above ground brick ovens or what we call in the tequila world ornos. This simple decision keeps the smoke from overpowering the spirit and really lets the natural flavor of the agave shine through. And after cooking, these agaves are crushed with a traditional tohono stone. But instead of fermenting the agaves with fibers like most mezcals do, they ferment with only the juice in stainless steel tanks using deep well water from the estate. Then it is distilled in small copper pot stills, producing a really bright clean spirit that's loaded with botanical characters. So let's start with the blanco. These are fresh pops and I'm going to have them in my traditional Mezcal capitas made by Villa 318. If you want a really cool glass, check these
[email protected] so let's dive in this blanco first. Okay. That's. That's completely different than what I was expecting. They're right. There's. There's no smoke. It's herbs, it's mint, it's lime. There's a really nice minerality there. But one of the things I noticed, it's like walking through somebody's herb garden right where all the herbs are there in the garden, you can smell all these different flowers, flavors. This is a lot there. Let's dive into the taste. Wow. While the mint is there, citrus, pepper, there's a wet stone like minerality.
[00:02:54] This not having any smoke is really amazing to me because one of the things that's a challenge for me is some of the smoke. And I can't wait for my wife to try these because the smoke sometimes takes over in a Mezcal. This has so much more complexity of flavors of the actual agave. I gotta say, I can see a gin drinker really enjoying this. It has all of these botanical flavors, all of these different herbs and minerality and vegetal notes are there with some fruitiness that. That is completely not what I expected. And the finish is minty and orange or lime. Zesty minerality. It hangs on for a long time. This is bottled at 40 ABV. It has a nice mouth feel, but it doesn't have anything overwhelming. So that. That's incredible. I really like it. Okay, let's dive into this reposado, same blanco. And what they did is it spends six months in a two American oak ex bourbon barrel with the level three char. And here's the cool part. These barrels were first bourbon barrels, then tequila barrels, and then this mezcal. So there's a lot of history in this one barrel because they're aged at 4,000ft above sea level in a cooler climate, it slows down the interaction with the wood. And the barrel is going to complement that gave instead of covering up. So let's check this one out. As you can see, there's not a lot of color there. So just a light, a light color. See if you could see that in the. See that in there? So let's hit this on the nose. Okay. All of those fruity notes, vegetal notes, earthy notes, and those agave notes are right there in the nose. There is a soft amount, I'm going to say, of vanilla or caramel or oak. Like, I can't really tell the difference, but it's in that. That arena of the nose, all of those herbs and that mint and that zest and that minerality is still there. So everything that came through as a blanco still there. Just with a little bit of maybe added. I'm going to use baking spices. Okay, let's hit the. Let's hit the taste of this. Okay. The citrus, the minerality, the grass just really punched up a level. There are so many flavors in there. I don't even know how to really explain them all. You do get maybe a little bit of smoke with the sweetness, but it's definitely from the barrel because there wasn't any in this right here. So the barrel is adding that char roasted note there. The citrus kind of, you know, disappeared a little bit more in here than what it was in the blanco, but that character of sweetness is added. So this is really nice. The finish, the minerality has kicked up. That agave is there, but that sweetness and that minerality are a little more there with a little more baking spices.
[00:05:20] Definitely a reposado mezcal that's kept the agave the star and just kind of added a little frame around the amazing flavors that are in this right here. I. I can't wait to revisit these. Honestly, these are up there in the mezcal world for me, and I'm sure that this agave is also really special, and being from a different area other than Oaxaca is probably making it unique as well. Let me know in the comments if you've had this. Have you tried the solas and tell me what your thoughts are. This has been a big surprise for me. This is really good. I can't wait to spend more time with these. If you like mezcal tequila, Sotol reviews information about agave spirits, let me know. Hit that like button, that subscribe button. Share it with your friends. And I've got to say, until next time, I hope you're sipping on something as good as I am tonight. Cheers. This was pretty freaking good.
