Koch El Mezcal Ancestral Joven Maguey Espadin de Sola de Vega

Koch is one of the two mezcals a Mezcal PhD tasting group acclaimed above everything else on the table, and its Ancestral line is made the oldest way there is. Koch El Mezcal works with maestros across Oaxaca's mezcal regions, bottling each village and agave separately; the Ancestral designation, the strictest under Mexican law, means the agave was roasted in an earthen pit, crushed by hand with mallets or a tahona, fermented in wood or stone or hide, and distilled in clay pot stills over a wood fire. This bottle is espadín from Sola de Vega — the mountain town southwest of Oaxaca City that's the heartland of clay-pot distillation, where the ollas de barro tradition never died — pit-roasted, hand-crushed, wild-fermented, and clay-pot distilled, bottled unaged; check your label for the maestro, lot, and ABV. Sola de Vega clay-pot espadín is a benchmark style: expect a nose of cooked agave, wet earth, dried herbs, and a mineral, faintly smoky funk, opening into a dense, savory, textured palate with honey, pepper, and a clay-tinged minerality, finishing long and earthy. Tasted beside Koch's Jayacatlán espadín, it shows how much a village changes the same agave. Honest note: ancestral clay-pot mezcal is rustic by design — for the drinker who wants the oldest voice of Oaxaca, not the polished one. Neat, in a copita. Espadín, from the clay pots of Sola de Vega.

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