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| Welcome to Back Bar Project's Mezcal Newsletter: a destination for important information related to BBP's Mexican spirits portfolio. The landscape of Mexican spirits is developing rapidly. With multiple producers in various regions, and batch-specific brands and bottlings, the BBP portfolio is fun to represent. However, it can, at times, be complex and tough to track. Our goal with this newsletter is to keep you fully informed about special events, new producers, new batch releases, annual release black bottles, label changes, newsworthy stories in the world of mezcal, and much, much more...
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| Milled agave ready to go into the fermentation tanks. |
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| El Jolgorio is one of the most celebrated mezcal brands currently on the market, not only for its expressive flavor profiles and exacting quality of its mezcal producers, but also for the wide variety it offers. Each sequential Edition of El Jolgorio is different than the last, oftentimes with consecutive Editions of an El Jolgorio expression being produced by a different mezcalero, in a different region of Oaxaca. Our goal is to continuously provide clear updates on incoming batches of mezcal, so our distributor partners can effectively communicate this information to their clients and track bottlings. In the last week of June, we are excited to release several new batches from the world-class distillers in the El Jolgorio collective.
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| Every batch is different. Here, sequential Editions of El Jolgorio Espadín dating back to the 2013 release. |
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| Below is a summary of the new editions:
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| Brand |
Product |
Edition |
ABV |
Village |
Producer |
| El Jolgorio |
Barril |
9 |
47% |
Compañia, Ejutla |
Gregorio Hernandez |
| El Jolgorio |
Madrecuishe |
14 |
48% |
Santiago Matatlán |
Gregorio Jarquín |
| El Jolgorio |
Mexicano |
14 |
47% |
Rio Seco |
Regulo Martinez Parada |
| El Jolgorio |
Pechuga |
11 |
48% |
Santiago Matatlán |
Gregorio Martinez Jarquín & Valentín Cortés |
| El Jolgorio |
Tepeztate |
19 |
48% |
Rio Seco |
Reynaldo Altamirano (Tio Rey) |
| El Jolgorio |
Tobalá |
17 |
47% |
San Baltazar |
Gregorio Martinez García |
| El Jolgorio |
Cuishe |
14 |
47% |
Santa Maria Zoquitlán |
Ignacio Parada |
| El Jolgorio |
Espadín (Capón) |
08 |
47.8% |
San Luis del Rio |
Rafael Mendez |
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| The current bottling (Edition 14) of El Jolgorio Cuishe was made by Ignacio Parada ("Don Chucho") in Santa Maria Zoquitlán, a small village situated above a small river valley in the mountains to the southeast of Santiago Matatlán. Don Chucho is highly regarded among mezcaleros and mezcal drinkers alike, for his slow, methodical style and ability to channel the identity of each agave into the spirit, consistently producing highly expressive mezcals using a wide variety of agave species. Don Chucho harvests his agaves in the rugged, high elevation mountains (~3,500 ft) around the village. The piñas are baked in an earthen oven, milled by a Tahona and fermented with wild yeasts in open-air wood vats. Notably, Don Chucho only works with two 250-liter capacity copper pot stills, and prefers to produce a wide variety of very special, yet small batches of mezcal. His son José, is a young, skilled mezcalero in his own right and his importance to the operation of the family business cannot be understated.
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| The agave Cuishe is one sub-species falling under the Karwinskii species of agaves. Most agave plants look like giant round pineapples - the dense piña of the plant resting centrally above the roots with stiff leaves shooting outward from this core. The Karwinskii species actually grows a vertical stalk upon which a cylindrical, vertical piña grows with smaller leaves thrust into the air around it.
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Ignacio Parada and his family at their palenque in Santa Maria Zoquitlán.
Credit: @sunnymartini |
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| Due to the vertical shape and leaf structure make it difficult to harvest and transport. It also has a dense, fibrous cylindrical core. The resulting mezcal is highly sought after for its dry minerality and bold, spicy flavor profile. With roughly only 350 more bottles arriving to the U.S., the highly limited Edition 14 of Cuishe from Don Chucho will not last long.
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| The vertical stance of agave Cuishe. |
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| Edition 14 is only the second batch of Mexicano, in the El Jolgorio range, that was produced by Don Regulo Martinez Parada in Rio Seco. (no relation to Ignacio Parada). Rio Seco lies at an elevation of 3,500 ft., about 10 km to the southwest of its neighboring town of Santa Maria Zoquitlán, along the tiny San Dionisio river. With a population of about 600 people, the community is very small, even by Oaxacan standards. Don Regulo works out of a communal palenque, with time shared between 5-6 other mezcaleros. The palenque employs artisanal methods: earthen horno, mule-drawn tahona for milling, open-air wood vats for fermentation, and double-distilled in small copper alembics.
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| The agave Mexicano belongs to the species Rhodacantha, and matures at around 7-10 years. Most Mexicano these days are cultivated in wild terrains. Agave Mexicano can grow to be large, though are often still slightly smaller than the more common Espadín variety, especially when growing in the mountains, where access to nutrients and water are competitive. A relatively rare agave, Mexicano found around Santa Maria Zoquitlán and Candelaria Yegolé are nearly all cultivated on rugged terrain on the rocky hillsides towering above the fertile river valleys below.
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| Don Regulo visiting the De Cortés palenque in Santiago Matatlán. |
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| A 2018 visit to the fermentation tanks at the Rio Seco palenque that Don Regulo shares time in. |
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| Don Regulo's mezcals are produced in small batches that he sells primarily in the local region. Don't miss your chance to order this rare and unique bottling.
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| Mexicano Agave growing in a cluster, amongst the cacti. |
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| Mexicano piñas trimmed and ready for the oven. |
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| Nearly gone is the prized Edition 08 of the Espadín, produced in the tiny town of San Luis del Rio, by mezcalero Rafael Mendez. Espadín offerings for the El Jolgorio brand are always distinct and unique. For Edition 08, Casa Cortés bottled an Espadín produced in 2006, which is nearly unheard of. On top of that, the agaves were harvested using a rare method called "Capón" that is widely believed to enhance the flavor profile of the distillate by allowing the sugars in the agave to develop after it is has its quiote removed.
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| The term Capón signifies that, prior to harvest, the mezcalero allows the agaves to grow their quiotes. A quiote (pronounced kee-oh-tay) is the long, tree-like reproductive organ that soars into the air, often up to 20-25 feet, carrying seeds to be spread by wind, water, and animals. For Espadín specifically, it takes between 7-10 years for an agave to fully mature, depending on its growing conditions, at which point it produces its quiote.
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| The word Capón comes from the word capar or castrar which means: to castrate. It is a strong word, but the quiote is considered the male reproductive organ, bearing seeds and bulbs that can be re-sown to grow more agave, or also spread naturally. The Agave reaches its full maturity just before the quiote begins to appear at the top-center of the agave. At that time, it is called Pavilo, and it is a perfectly good time to harvest. During that short time that the agave remains planted with the quiote (usually about 2-4 months), the piña begins to draw in more sugar from the roots and soil in an attempt to continue growing. Many mezcaleros believe that this harvesting practice results in mezcal with greater depth and complexity.
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Aerial views over the mountainside village of San Luis del Rio.
Credit: @werkcreative |
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| With approximately 560 bottles left in the warehouse, this bottling will never reappear once it's gone.
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