La Venenosa Sierra Raicilla (Black Label)
Raicilla Blanco
Jalisco, Mexico
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Cost
Hailing from Jalisco the home of tequila in the small town of Mascota, this raicilla is the epitome of “old school”. Distilled once in a homemade pot-still assembled from found materials. To clarify, it is distilled once with a small portion kept separate to distill a second time. This is then added back to the distillate to give it more depth and body as well as to increase the proof. Further separating it from typical Oaxacan mezcal, here the agave are roasted in an above-ground adobe oven. After roasting the heavily-charred parts are scraped off giving this mezcal a cleaner, almost smokeless profile.
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age
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abv42.0
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Raicilla BlancoRaicilla [rye-see-ya] is produced in several municipalities of Jalisco from several different types of agave (excluding blue Weber agave) such as Maximiliana, Rhodecantha, and Angostifolia. This category isn't officially defined, but will be the next agave spirit of Mexico to be regulated. Unaged.
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Cask Type
Tasting Notes
"This is not an easy spirit which is NOT to say that it isn’t good, decide for yourself. On the nose there are notes of burnt soy sauce, pine, Sriracha, orange juice, oregano, black pepper and cat pee (like some sauvignon blanc wines). The palate is a bit different with such flavors as anise, almonds, Granny Smith apple, and raw vegetal notes. The profile is very savory and the acidity is off the charts for a spirit, which adds a lot of freshness and balances out the savoriness. This is a spirit meant for very specialized and perhaps esoteric cocktails or neat during a moment of “spiritual” contemplation."
Reviewed by
Omari Wheat