Quiquiriqui Mezcal Espadin 70cl

£9.9
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Quiquiriqui Mezcal Espadin 70cl

Quiquiriqui Mezcal Espadin 70cl

RRP: £99
Price: £9.9
£9.9 FREE Shipping

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Description

Mezcal brand Quiquiriqui has unveiled a bag-in-box format for the on-trade as its latest sustainable solution to glass waste. Quiquiriqui’s bag-in-box format is a continuation of the brand’s efforts to support local communities Currently in residence at Curio Cabal on Kingsland Road, Sin Gusano is part business, part passion project, part social enterprise. Darby wants to teach people about good mezcal, and focuses on buying small amounts of traditionally made mezcals at local prices, importing tiny batches. The project has committed 5% of profits from this trading activity to sustainable growth programs and charitable causes in Oaxaca.

Unlike other spirits, the aging process happens when the plant is growing [that said, mezcal can be aged in oak barrels – reposado has been rested for between two months and a year, and anejo is matured for one to three years – but purists prefer to drink it joven, or young]. Most agave plants are ready after around eight years – you're drinking something which has matured and has personality and a story to tell." What’s more is they have been working for many years to organise a collective of producers in their village to stop the discarding of left over liquid from distillation (vinasas) and have recently become the only palenque in the area to have their own organic disposal facility! They also work with a collective to only use dead or diseased wood for the production, as deforestation is a big problem in Oaxaca and certain wood types are dangerously over harvested. Quiquiriqui Mezcal (45% abv) is a single estate mezcal made in southern Mexico, and is billed by the retailer as being “rich in vegetal flavours” with “a distinct smokey flavour profile”.

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Botanicals can be added; some traditional mezcals are distilled with turkey breasts. The fermentation and distillation vessels vary from palenque to palenque, too – distillation can take place in anything from copper to clay, while some producers even ferment their agave in cow hide. Oaxaca is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. This means it's also home to hundreds of species of agave, which is why it's become known as the home of mezcal. Espadin This single estate Mezcal brand was established in 2011 and partnered with families who have been producing traditional mezcal for generations. Honouring traditions their mezcal is distilled in small batches using 350l stills and produced using artisan methods. Tequila became dominated by a few huge brands producing industrial, substandard products, and doing it so cheaply that buyers' heads were turned," says Quiquiriqui's Symonds.

Quiquiriqui's mezcals are all single estate – or palenque – handmade in Mexico. Brand owner Melanie Symonds partners with families who have been producing mezcal in their communities for generations, creating small-batch mezcals with locally grown agaves. The brand's wild tobola mezcal has a limited run to protect the wild agave population. He offers several reasons why traditionally made mezcal is as sustainable an industry as they come: "Mezcal made with wild agave is the most highly coveted, which has sparked concerns that in a few decades there'll be none left. Some brand owners run an annual program in which small agave are planted and left to mature, and some communities only permit residents to harvest wild agave from communal land if the palenquero agrees to plant two small agave for every mature one harvested." Raicilla means 'small root', and is another spirit distilled from the agave plant, with a more fragrant and fruity taste than tequila and mezcal. Estancia's raicilla is distilled to the highest standards in the highlands of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range.We only use wood that is diseased or has fallen in our palenque and plant a higher ratio of agave than we use," says Symonds, who produces Quiquiriqui mezcal with Blas and several other small producers whose palenque and agave fields I visit. Mezcal, tequila's more interesting older sibling, is experiencing a boom in the UK. Archaically made and impossibly smoky, if you want to engage in the best new booze trend out there these are the bottles to buy The agave most commonly used to make mezcal. It matures in eight years and gives the highest yield. Tepaztate Mezcal" without the qualifier is not dissimilar to tequila: there are ways the process is shortened to make it easier to make in quantity, but it contains more agave than its cousin. "Ancestral" and "artisanal", however, are what Scotch once was to whiskey: intensely antiquated, primordial beverages that tell stories as well as providing a great nightcap.

Made with espadin and three wild agaves – madrecuishe, bicuishe and mezicano – Papadiablo (which means Pope Devil) is a complex, traditionally made mezcal. All the ingredients are organic, no chemicals are added and the brand also distill to proof – which means no water is added to adjust the ABV. The mezcal industry has changed dramatically in the seven years since I started, and you just need to look at tequila to see where we're currently headed." En route, I whizzed down the highway, past hundreds of signs offering mezcal tours and the chance to try, in situ, mezcal made at one of the roadside palenques. Mezcal tourism in Oaxaca is booming and I've become one of its tourists, determined to uncover the spirit's secrets. And, I learn, it all starts with the agave. But, aside from flavour, perhaps mezcal's most entrancing quality is the chance to build an industry that's sustainable for both the local communities and the environment.

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It's preserving the traditions that is of utmost importance for responsible producers and importers. "What larger companies don't do is support small producers or work towards the preservation of traditional methods, but what they're much better at doing is dealing with issues like waste management because they have the money and the resource to do so," continues Cumming. That said, Starkman suggests importers do have alternative options to meet demand. "A brand called Vago started less than five years ago and became very successful. They had two people producing for them. Eventually they couldn't meet demand, and had the choice of industrialising production; hiring more people from outside their family to help them produce this mezcal; or, the route they went down, finding two more producers in other villages who were making mezcal with the nuances and quality they like. That's the way to maintain the quality of product." After eight hours of crushing, the mashed agave hearts and the juices are transferred to a wooden fermenting tank, ambient-temperature water is added, and the mixture is fermented for about five days, depending on the time of year, and then the liquid goes through an alembic still. Taking 20 years or more to mature, Arroqueno yields mezcal with a slightly bitter, almost chocolatey taste.



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