Reviews / Maguey Melate Velato
Review · · by The Editors
Maguey Melate Velato
An unusual lumbre in copper-refrescador hybrid – more concept than bottle
Score: 3.0/5 agaves
- Producer: Maguey Melate
- Maestro: Agustin Guendulain Maya
- Region: San Luis Amatlan, Oaxaca
- Agave: Lumbre
- ABV: 48%
- Price: $60 ($)
Verdict
Velato is a rarity worth knowing exists, and Agustín Guendulain Maya deserves credit for bottling it. But the hybrid still setup produces a liquid that doesn't fully commit to either distillation idiom, and at 48% the agave's specificity doesn't get to assert itself. A data-point bottle, not a keeper. Pass unless you collect rare-agave releases.
Rare agave, ordinary bottle
Tasting notes
Nose: Wild herb, then cooked agave, faint smoke, ambiguous florals
Palate: 48% of a rare 'Sp' agave (lumbre/velato) through a hybrid still that doesn't flatter either side, the bottle reads clean but lacks a definitive character, caught between copper warmth and refrescador lift
Finish: Soft, indistinct. Medium
The bottom line
A rare-agave curiosity. Not a sipping recommendation