Reviews / Mal Bien Pulquero
Review · · by The Editors
Mal Bien Pulquero
Cortés pulquero – atrovirens americana as its own argument
Score: 4.0/5 agaves
- Producer: Mal Bien
- Maestro: Ageo Cortés
- Region: Miahuatlán, Oaxaca
- Agave: Pulquero
- ABV: 49.2%
- Price: $65 ($$)
Verdict
Pulquero (atrovirens, sometimes classified americana) is an agave rarely bottled as distilled spirit and Ageo Cortés makes a more compelling case than the Maguey Melate Félix Hernández Ruiz release. At 49.2% the bottle has the spine the agave demands, and Miahuatlán's refrescador idiom keeps it from getting heavy.
Pulquero americana as a real mezcal, not a sidebar
Tasting notes
Nose: Grass – then cooked corn, earth, faint mineral, quiet smoke
Palate: 49.2% of a rare pulquero distillate – Ageo Cortés makes the atrovirens read savory and grounded, not vegetal, the refrescador still keeps it lifted despite the weight
Finish: Earthy, flinty. Stays long
The bottom line
A rare-agave bottle that earns the rarity