Reviews / Pasión Ancestral Barril-Marteño-Largo

Review · · by The Editors

Pasión Ancestral Barril-Marteño-Largo

Three karwinskii-adjacent agaves in one clay-still bottle

Score: 4.0/5 agaves

Pasión Ancestral Barril-Marteño-Largo bottle
  • Producer: Pasión Ancestral
  • Maestro: Alexis Canales Angeles
  • Region: Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca
  • Agave: Barril, Largo, Marteño
  • ABV: 51%
  • Price: $70 ($$)

Verdict

Barril, largo, and marteño are all agaves that sit in the karwinskii-family zone of austere-mineral expression, and stacking them is a brave structural choice – you'd expect monotony, and instead the differences within the family come forward. Pasión Ancestral's ancestral distillation amplifies the argument. Reach for it as a karwinskii-family master class.

An ensamble of quiet agaves that together make more noise than any of them alone

Tasting notes

Nose: Wet stone, green herb, dark honey, saline

Palate: 51% ensamble with barril, largo, and marteño – all low-growing karwinskii and cousins, pulling the bottle toward a dry, mineral, austere register. Clay-still texture is audible

Finish: Mineral, dry, complex. Long

The bottom line

Buy for the karwinskii-family study, not as a first ensamble

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