Reserva de Don Chuy Autentico Reposado Mezcal

Nose: Pepper. Strong eye-watering black pepper, and a little chilli. A background of light red wine. Palate: A fairly soft and winey arrival that develops into simple pepper-water with alcohol. Finish: Short, with little going on. Ethanol, some lingering winey notes, and the all-pervading ground pepper. Recently I embarked on a voyage of discovery into the (for me) previously uncharted waters of mezcal. Most of my acquisitions so far have been top-shelf expressions but to gain some balance I also purchased a few inexpensive mezcals for comparison and to set a baseline. This Don Chuy stuff sure sets the bottom level baseline. It's really only possible to drink this neat if you take it in very small sips, preferably under duress so you can deny culpability. I'd class it as about the same level of quality as Grant's blended scotch or Beenleigh Rum - more useful as a weapon in a bar-room brawl than for actual consumption. As a mixer it becomes palatable, and diluting it with orange or pineapple juice works wonders. I'm grateful that this is bottled at 38% - I can't imagine what it would be like at high abv (the horror ... the horror). The manufacturer has a NOM (Z106C), so presumably it has been checked and won't actually send you blind. On the basis of that I'm awarding 1 star. I'll grudgingly give it another half because once thoroughly drowned with ice and fruit juice it's acceptable as a long cooler. It would probably be acceptable in cocktails, but I wouldn't do it by choice. "Inferior" : 66/100 (1.5 stars)