Mezcal review: Mala Idea 18yr old Cuishe + explanation of what mezcal is

Tonight I will have a Mezcal,

Specifically the 18yr old Cuishe from Mala idea.

It is salty and smokey, at 45ABV, with a long finish, much smoother than you would expect if you are used to your average 20$ a bottle Tequila.

Great spirit, meant to be tasted slowly, not for knocking back in a shot. ALso, a great accompaniment to a cigar on a hot summers night. Although I never have spirits with ice, this one would work well ice cold as well.

Tequila and Mezcal are fairly similar, but there are some differences: Mezcal can be produced in all of Mexico, whereas Tequila can only be made in the province of Tequila.

Also Tequila can only be made from some specific varieties of Agave's, whereas for Mezcal any variety of Agave can be used.

Most, if not all tequila is made from farmed agaves, which are simply harvested from fields. Cheap, easy. (although farming is by no means an easy job).

Par Jay8085 — originally posted to Flickr as Blue Agave, Tequila, Mexico, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6542036

The specific mezcal I am tasting right now is however made from wild-harvested agave's.

By Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7209445

(To be clear, this picture is not from Mexico, but from Crete, but it's an agave :D )

Silver mezcal, like silver tequila is bottled without aging. Reposado's have aged in wooden barrels for some time (months) and anejo's have aged for some years in wooden barrels. (though no where comparable to whiskies or brandies, due to the higher temperatures.)

Stay away from "Golden" tequilas, since these are silver (unaged) which are coloured with caramel. (Unless if you know what you are doing and do it for the specific flavour, just realise that you are not buying a superior product to a silver)

But here we have an 18 year old silver, so what's going on?

I do not know what the rules regarding age statements are, but I bought this product directly from the manufacturer during an event where a lot of mezcal producers where present, and it was explained that this was the minimum age of the agaves used for the production of the product.

The Cuishe finally stand for the specific variety of agave used. Cuishe's are a large, eve manhigh variety

In order to make mezcal or tequila, the agaves are stewed in earhen pits (or a variety of industrial techniues for tequila)

When this is over, they are allowed to cool, by which time they are sweet, fermentation of these cooked agaves will than produce an alcoholic liquid, which can be distilled into a tequila or mezcal, which, depending on it's purpose is immediately bottled, or stored in wooden barrels for aging.

Cheers