Reviews / Maguey Melate Criollo - Carmello Pedroza Alvarez
Review · · by The Editors
Maguey Melate Criollo - Carmello Pedroza Alvarez
Estado de Mexico criollo – an agave state most drinkers skip
Score: 3.0/5 agaves
- Producer: Maguey Melate
- Maestro: Carmello Pedroza Alvarez
- Region: El Platanar Malinalco, Estado de Mexico
- Agave: Criollo
- ABV: 42.5%
- Price: $55 ($)
Verdict
Estado de Mexico criollo isn't built for heroics. Carmello Pedroza Alvarez distills cleanly and respects the agave's limits, the bottle reads accurate if not thrilling. Pass unless you're mapping the national agave catalog. Reach for the Jose Geremias Vasquez Diaz criollo in the same Melate series instead; different still, more to say.
42.5% tells you what Carmello thinks this agave can bear – he's right
Tasting notes
Nose: Cooked corn, then dry hay, warm stone, faint fruit
Palate: At 42.5% the criollo's thin, dusty profile reads honestly – Carmello Pedroza Alvarez doesn't try to make it more than it is, but the ABV is the ceiling
Finish: Short-medium, dry, faintly sweet
The bottom line
An honest reading of a modest agave. That's the ceiling