Reviews / El Tinieblo Reposado

Review · · by The Editors

El Tinieblo Reposado

Reposado at 40%, consensus 1.5 for a reason, and the bottle makes the case for why

Score: 1.5/5 agaves

El Tinieblo Reposado bottle
  • Producer: El Tinieblo Mezcal
  • Maestro: Baltazar Cruz Gomez
  • Region: Tamaulipas
  • Agave: Espadin, Sierrudo
  • ABV: 40%
  • Price: $55 ($)

Verdict

The wood amplifies the underlying distillation issues rather than covering them – decorative flavor on a structurally broken bottle. Skip; the Montana proves the producer can do serious work. This reposado isn't that bottle, and the aging makes the base problems louder instead of softer.

40% reposado on a weak base consistently fails

Tasting notes

Nose: Oak, vanilla, faint smoke, an alcoholic sharpness that lands as distillation fault

Palate: Thin and off at 40%. Oak-aging a commercial base at commercial proof produces a category failure when the base itself has cuts problems; this is what that failure mode looks like in the glass

Finish: Oaky, bitter, with a chemical fade

The bottom line

Skip

Where to buy online

We found this bottle at 5 US retailers. Prices and stock vary – click through to check.

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