Maguey Melate Pulquero

Verdict

Pulquero agave is usually destined for the fermentation bucket, not the still, which makes this bottle a minor education in what atrovirens tastes like when you actually distill it. Félix Hernández Ruiz is a third-generation Matatlán maestro and the hand shows, savory, grounded, unhurried. Track it down if you're building a one-bottle-per-agave shelf.

Tasting notes

Nose: Cooked corn, green grass, sweet hay, damp earth, quiet smoke

Palate: Full-weighted and savory, the atrovirens pushes herbal green notes over a warm starchy core – 49.1% gives it the spine pulquero needs to not drink like a vegetable

Finish: Medium-long, grassy, mineral tail

The bottom line

A quiet education in an agave most drinkers never meet