Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, hopefully you guys got to see my interview with Juan Pina, where he talks about his tequila terra y libertad, and also his mezcal prolijo. This one is a tepazate, which is a plant that takes 25 years to grow before you can turn it into a drink. So this is not a tequila. This is a mezcal. This is an agave spirit. For a long time that I really steered away from, I didn't like the smart smokiness that you get in a mezcal. And so many of them that I tried, it was just like drinking a campfire. And this one, when he gave it to me to try and was really excited about me tasting it, I love it. Okay, so this is a tepazate, which is the maguey or the agave. Takes 25 plus years to grow. They harvest it just like they do a tequila plant, right? They take a koa and chop all the pinkas off. Then they cut it up the big P and they chop it up. And one of the things that's different than cooking it in a stone oven or an autoclave, these guys are cooking it in the ground. They throw mesquite wood or some type of wood into the ground. They light it on fire. This pit is lined with volcanic rock. They get those rocks all hot and heated up. Then once that fire goes out and they got all that heat in there, they stack the agaves down in that pit. They cover that pit with dirt. They've got a little hole in the center where they dump water down in there, and they just let it cook sometimes for days before it's done. Then once it's all done cooking and it cools, they do a little bit different process. Instead of running through a roller mill, some do a tahona. Some literally crush it with mallets and just get up there and smash that agave with mallets after they've run it through a shredder. And then from there, they load all of those fibers and all of that juice that they did collect into a pine tank, they fill it with water, and they just let it ferment with the yeast that's wild and natural that came on the plant and that's in the air. From there, they're pulling it out, and they're distilling it in a copper pot. Some are using a Filipino clay. A clay pot, which is a little bit different, and then, voila, it's done. These guys are bringing this at 48 ABV roof. These guys have a nom number two, it's not like tequila as the CRT. They have another governing body. And this one's coming out of nom0275x. And there's not a way, like with Tequila Matchmaker to look it up since it's an agave spirit. But you can Google that and find some information about Prolejo and their palinka, which is what they call a distillery that makes Mezcal. So let's. Let's do a review of a Mezcal.
[00:02:46] You do get a little bit of that smokiness, and it's not overpowering on this one. In fact, the smell that I. I always want to say with this, that I can't really put my finger on is it's. I get a grape note.
[00:03:02] So you get this cooked agave and you get the earthiness. But to me, it smells like grape jelly. That. That smell that you get with a grape jam or a grape jelly where you have this really nice, sweet grape flavor. Not like a wine, mind you. It's got this earthiness where you have this sweetness and you just get this hint of grape.
[00:03:32] I also get like a.
[00:03:35] A little bit of funkiness.
[00:03:38] Not like a deep malactic blue cheese funkiness, just like a. A little bit of a musty smell with it. It's kind of hard to explain.
[00:03:52] So rich, so savory. You get this a little bit of the. Little bit of the smoke, but the smoke is wiped away with this flavor. And I talk about the flavor of agave and tequila all the time. And I guess the flavor that. That flavor that I'm getting is must be the agave of the tepesate. I. I haven't had other ones to compare it, but I get this grapeness, this earthiness, this almost like a vegetal flavor is. It's really, really hard for me to put my finger on. It tastes so different, but so good to me. The finish is really long. It's peppery. It's got like an all spice. It tingles the back of your tongue. It's just so good and it lasts forever.
[00:04:44] And listen, guys, I'm not someone that talks about mezcal or sips mezcal. I'm. I'm a tequila guy through and through.
[00:04:53] But as you can see, this one, man, it is. It's a dessert to me at the end of the evening. The richness, the sweetness, the savoriness, the creaminess, and then this spiciness that's in it as well and just covered with a little teeny bit of a Smokiness that's really hardly even noticeable. It's a little bit in the very first taste that you have, and then the other taste that that goes away, and you have all these different flavors. And this is one that every time I take a taste, I literally get another flavor. So if you can find this, they. They are available in Illinois. They're available in northern Indiana. I'll put a link up here to the website so you can find the other places that you can get this. This is really amazing. And I did get the opportunity to interview Juan, and he talked about the process of making this Mezcal and the process and the process of making their tequila. I'll have a review of this coming out soon. It's a leader. It's so good. It's a great tequila. But check out the interview with Juan Pina. Listen to the stories of how he made this tequila in Mezcal. Check this. This Mezcal out. And they have other versions of this Mezcal. They have an espadine. There's actually a Prolijo tequila, which I have not had yet. And this is one. This is a brand to search for. This is a brand to try. If you want to treat yourself and have something different, this is a go to to try out prolijo. Mezcal.com is the website to find these guys, and they're just making a fantastic product. And when it comes to Mezcals, I don't have a whole lot that I can tell you to go buy. I don't like a lot of them, but this one, phenomenal. So check it out. Check out the video. If you've got a tequila or a Mezcal brand that you think is worth me checking out and reviewing, put it in the comments or DM me. I'll go find it, buy it, and I'll try it. And thanks for watching my videos. Have a great night.
