Mal Bien Barril

Verdict

Barril at 50% is a ledge most producers fall off – too much weight on a karwinskii that wants to go muddy, and the Cortés family walks it. The bottle holds its structure where Fidencio or Vida's copper-still barriles would smear. Mal Bien's named-maestro argument for the boutique-import model rests on bottles like this one; pour it next to a copper-still cousin to hear the difference.

Tasting notes

Nose: Warm earth up front. Dried herb, cooked agave, faint smoke underneath

Palate: Dense and slightly bitter at 50% – barril's signature weight framed by the producer's discipline

Finish: Warming, mineral – long

The bottom line

A strong barril at a defensible price