Reviews / Pal'alma Al Pastor

Review · · by The Editors

Pal'alma Al Pastor

The al pastor pechuga that turned an idea into a discipline

Score: 5.0/5 agaves

Pal'alma Al Pastor bottle
  • Producer: Pal'alma
  • Maestro: Asunción Matilde Vargas
  • Region: Puebla
  • Agave: Espadilla
  • ABV: 59%
  • Price: $70 ($)

Verdict

This is one of the highest-concept pechugas in the category and one of the highest-executed. Palalma took the format that every bar toys with and treated it with the seriousness of a three-star kitchen, the chiles, pineapple, and pork distill through rather than sit on top, and the espadilla holds all of it. Buy when you see it, hoard when you can. Nothing else drinks like it.

Al pastor was a joke on a menu until Palalma proved it could be a masterpiece

Tasting notes

Nose: Pineapple, then dried chile, cumin, achiote, cooked pork, wood smoke

Palate: 59% of Puebla espadilla carrying the full taqueria: the fruit, the spice, the meat, the smoke, all stacked in legible sequence rather than smeared together

Finish: Savory-sweet, with a clean heat fade. Very long

The bottom line

Buy and hoard. A singular bottle in the category

Where to buy online

We found this bottle at 2 US retailers. Prices and stock vary – click through to check.

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