Del Maguey Single Village Tobala Mezcal

Tobalá is the truffle of the agave world — a small Agave potatorum that hides in the shade of oaks in the highest-altitude canyons, yields about an eighth of what an espadín does, and earns the nickname King of Agaves — and Del Maguey's has been the reference bottling for decades. Ron Cooper, the Taos artist who founded Del Maguey in 1995 on the single-village idea, bottles it from Santa María Albarradas, a village he calls one of the most magical places on earth to drink mezcal, where the palenque of Rogelio Martínez Cruz and Leopoldino Miranda sits among fruit trees and rose bushes and the manantial spring water flavors the fermentation. Wild tobalá, roasted in an earthen pit, crushed by tahona, fermented naturally with wild yeast, and twice-distilled in wood-fired copper stills, bottled at 45% ABV. Difford's found grassy mango skin, orange zest, and dried apricot on the nose, then an earthy, salty, mineral, fruity palate of mango, cinnamon, and black pepper with a chewy, boot-polish smoke. 88 Bamboo: potpourri, rose water, agave syrup, and white florals — gentler than expected but highly aromatic. Master of Malt: floral, citrus, silky. Mezcal Reviews' drinkers, across several batches, call it consistently very, very nice — viscous, fruity, well-balanced, in no way similar to cheaper tobalás. Honest note: it's priced for a plant that takes over a decade and yields little. In a copita, neat. The King of Agaves, from its most magical village.

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