La Niña del Mezcal Cirial

Verdict

La Niña's cirial is the bottle that exists because someone at the brand decided specificity matters – Hernández could have blended this into a tobaziche or a house ensamble, and instead it's on shelves under its own name. The result is a cleanly-drawn karwinskii that reads drier than you expect. Not as deep as Cuish's best; more honest about what cirial actually is. We score it 4.0, right where the room lands.

Tasting notes

Nose: Green herb, wet stone, fennel, a mineral trace under faint smoke

Palate: Clean and vegetal-iron-tinged at 46.7%. Cirial is the less-common karwinskii face; Hernández brings it out drier than bicuishe and less green than tobaziche, which is the distinction worth paying for

Finish: Mineral, cool, with a slow herbal fade. Long

The bottom line

A rare cirial bottled under its own name. Specificity like this gets rewarded at retail

Where to buy online

We found this bottle at 2 US retailers. Prices and stock vary – click through to check.

• Old Town Tequila – $93
• Spec's