Reviews / El Buho Especial Ensamble

Review · · by The Editors

El Buho Especial Ensamble

Four-agave ensamble at 50%, arroqueño, barril, coyote, cuishe in one bottle

Score: 3.5/5 agaves

El Buho Especial Ensamble bottle
  • Producer: El Buho Mezcal
  • Maestro: Octavio Jiménez Monterroza
  • Region: Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca
  • Agave: Arroqueño, Barril, Coyote, Cuishe
  • ABV: 50%
  • Price: $70 ($$)

Verdict

Four-agave ensambles reliably crowd out their rarest voice – El Buho's version is more cohesive than most attempts, but the coyote reads as background rather than soloist. Buy the single-agave El Buhos instead; the specialty-format ensambles demonstrate the category's compositional ceiling more than they deliver drinkers a destination bottle.

Four-agave ensambles are hard, and this one clears the bar without setting it

Tasting notes

Nose: Dark honey up front. Green pepper, mineral damp, warm earth underneath

Palate: Complex at 50%. Four wild agaves in one bottle is a category test: in four-way ensambles, individual agaves usually get crowded out or blurred into each other

Finish: Drying, with a slow honey fade, very long

The bottom line

Quietly solid; the single-agave El Buho bottles outperform

Where to buy online

We found this bottle at 1 US retailer. Prices and stock vary – click through to check.

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