Siempre Oaxaca Tepeztate

Verdict

Tepextate that doesn't empty your wallet is mostly a myth. Siempre Oaxaca's cooperative model makes this one of the few honest entries to the category, the agave's 25-year patience is legible in the pepper and the stone, and the distillation respects what the plant gave up. Not the ceiling, but a real floor.

Tasting notes

Nose: Green bell pepper, then wet stone, crushed herb, light smoke

Palate: The refrescador still preserves the tepextate's peppery architecture, herbal bite up top, mineral body, the characteristic vegetal sharpness the agave demands

Finish: Peppery, faintly bitter

The bottom line

Rare: a wild tepextate at cooperative price. Buy it when you see it