Reviews / Descartes Espadin

Review · · by The Editors

Descartes Espadin

Teotitlan del Valle espadín at 40%. A philosopher's name on commercial proof

Score: 2.5/5 agaves

Descartes Espadin bottle
  • Producer: Descartes Mezcal
  • Maestro: Enrique Hernández Zenea
  • Region: Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
  • Agave: Espadin
  • ABV: 40%
  • Price: $50 ($)

Verdict

Descartes' branding is clever and its proof is lazy – 40% from a named maestro is a tell that the label is aimed at supermarket shelves rather than serious drinkers. Skip; Hernández Zenea deserves a label that lets him cook. Buy Banhez instead if you want a genuinely inexpensive espadín that respects its drinker's palate. Philosophy won't rescue commercial proof.

A bottle whose philosophy is quieter than its branding

Tasting notes

Nose: Green note over cooked agave, apple, a thin smoke

Palate: Enrique Hernández Zenea's Teotitlan espadín at 40% – the agave reads soft and polite

Finish: Clean, faintly sweet, short

The bottom line

A skip. Named maestro undersold by the proof