Reviews / Pasión Ancestral Espina Negra
Review · · by The Editors
Pasión Ancestral Espina Negra
Espina negra – a rare agave, carefully rendered
Score: 4.0/5 agaves
- Producer: Pasión Ancestral
- Maestro: Alexis Canales Angeles
- Region: Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca
- Agave: Karwinskii
- ABV: 50%
- Price: $65 ($)
Verdict
Espina negra is one of those agaves that rewards curiosity – it's in the category's periphery and Pasión Ancestral is one of a handful of producers bottling it as a single-agave. At 50% in clay, the species plays as its own thing, not a substitute for a better-known wild agave. Reach for it as an extension of a wild-agave education.
The agaves that aren't on shelves are often the ones most worth finding
Tasting notes
Nose: Green herb, wet stone, a savory undertone, mineral top
Palate: 50% of espina negra with the ancestral distillation pulling the species' herbal-wet slate register forward. Less sweet than arroqueño, drier than tobaziche
Finish: Dry, iron-tinged, quietly warming – long
The bottom line
Reach for it. Rare single-agave work worth tracking down