Reviews / Real Minero San Martinero
Review · · by The Editors
Real Minero San Martinero
Single-agave san martinero at 54.1%, karwinskii at its most upright
Score: 4.5/5 agaves
- Producer: Real Minero
- Maestro: Edgar Angeles
- Region: Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca
- Agave: San Martinero
- ABV: 54.1%
- Price: $200 ($$)
Verdict
San martinero is one of the karwinskii cultivars that rarely stands alone, and when it does the bottler usually underbottles it. Real Minero doesn't. 54.1%, clay pot, and Edgar Ángeles's hand produce a version that lands as the reference for the cultivar, lean, mineral, unembellished, long. Cuentacuentos and NETA have tried this agave with less success. Real Minero is the benchmark.
San martinero only sounds right above fifty proof
Tasting notes
Nose: Green celery, then wet clay, white pepper, a thread of cooked agave
Palate: Lean and electric at 54.1%, san martinero's vegetal spine running the whole length of the sip. 54.1% is the proof this agave wants, karwinskii at 48% or below flattens
Finish: Mineral, drying, very long
The bottom line
The pick for the karwinskii syllabus