Rating: 16/23 I tried this early on in my spirits adventures and I hated it. Time to give it another chance. N: Super earthy. Lot of dust from the trail, leading into some occasional sweet, watery herbal notes - like pieces of cactus - and also a little bit of something more herbal (but faint) leading into the restrained smoke. There's a dash of spices - like turmeric with a hint of cinnamon. P: The palate is a lot tarter than I'd expected with a big spiciness and also a lot of mint. There's some dustiness and smoke, but most of what hits me is lemon, a little vinegar, spice, and mint. The mint grows in comparison to the tartness and sort of a little malty sweetness with river water starts coming in. F: The mintiness, smokiness, river water sweetness, and a little tartness remain. It's a bold finish for sure. Some faint vegetal and herbal elements sneak in too. - Continued - This is super challenging. It really doesn't cohere well and it emphasized what are normally accent notes as core flavors. It's interesting, but I like it. Del Maguey Chichicapa is more generally appealing, whereas this is an intriguing challenge. I don't really think I'd like to have a bottle of this, which to me is a serious mark against it. This is tough. I'm considering anything in the 15 to 18 range here. This is certainly no Del Maguey Arroqueno. I like the Chichicapa better too, but not by a big margin. This is very different from Los Vecinos Espadin, but I think the quality is similar, so I'm going with a 16.