Reviews / Don Amado Tepeztate
Review · · by The Editors
Don Amado Tepeztate
Tepextate at 46%. A reasonable mid-tier tepextate that undersells its own agave by a few proof points
Score: 3.5/5 agaves
- Producer: Don Amado Mezcal
- Maestro: Bonifacio Arellanes
- Region: Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca
- Agave: Tepextate
- ABV: 46%
- Price: $180 ($$)
Verdict
Full tepextate vocabulary at mid-tier prices, just quieter than the bottle could be at 48-49%. Don Amado's 46% is a house commercial compromise, not a failure of technique – the producer picks the same proof across the range and accepts the trade-off consistently. Buy it for the tepextate introduction; climb to El Jolgorio or Dos Pasiones' tepextate once you want the agave at full volume.
A respectable mid-tier tepextate that shows what the agave can do even at modest proof
Tasting notes
Nose: Wildflower. Then wet stone, white pepper, a faint cooling-herb note, dry lavender underneath
Palate: Aromatic at 46%. The tepextate reads cleanly – floral lift, mineral spine, the drying herbal edge – but the agave's 25-year maturation wants a little more structural support than 46% provides
Finish: Cooling, drying, with a slow floral fade – very long
The bottom line
Fine for category exposure; step up in proof for the full expression