Reviews / Balam Comiteco Salmiana
Review · · by The Editors
Balam Comiteco Salmiana
Salmiana from Chiapas – a category-bending bottle
Score: 3.5/5 agaves
- Producer: Balam
- Maestro: Enrique Dias
- Region: Amatenango, Chiapas
- Agave: Salmiana
- ABV: 43%
- Price: $55 ($)
Verdict
Salmiana reads nothing like angustifolia, the vegetal-asparagus register breaks most drinkers' mezcal frame, and Chiapas production adds another regional layer most drinkers haven't learned either. At 43% Balam delivers the agave without trying to normalize it toward Oaxacan conventions. Not a gateway bottle; a category-bending one. Buy it once you've built vocabulary elsewhere.
Salmiana breaks most drinkers' mezcal frame
Tasting notes
Nose: Fresh asparagus with faint vegetal note
Palate: Vegetal, salmiana is a specific acquired taste
Finish: Cooling, herbal. Long
The bottom line
An unusual bottle worth trying once