Reviews / Alipus San Juan XX Aniversario Tepeztate, Espadin
Review · · by The Editors
Alipus San Juan XX Aniversario Tepeztate, Espadin
Joel Antonio Cruz's tepeztate-espadín XX Aniversario – a two-agave anniversary with appropriate proof support
Score: 4.0/5 agaves
- Producer: Alipus Mezcal
- Maestro: Joel Antonio Cruz
- Region: San Juan del Rio, Oaxaca
- Agave: Espadin, Tepextate
- ABV: 48%
- Price: $160 ($$)
Verdict
The Alipus anniversary pattern holds: individual-maestro + real proof = a bottle that justifies paying attention to a brand the commercial tier undersells. Joel Antonio Cruz's tepextate-espadín at 48% is the format working – aromatic wild agave riding on cultivated-agave spine, both at proof they can actually use. Buy the anniversaries; leave the 42% standard bottles.
Anniversary-tier Alipus earns the premium
Tasting notes
Nose: Wildflower, cooked agave, warm stone, a faint cooling-herb high note and trace of dried lavender
Palate: Dense and aromatic at 48%. The tepextate's 25-year agronomy gets proper proof support, and the espadín provides the structural spine for the aromatic lift to ride on
Finish: Cooling, drying, with a slow mineral fade – very long
The bottom line
A solid anniversary pick