Mal Bien Black Tape Papalote Mezcal (750ml)
This limited lote of 240 bottles represents one of the final mezcals made by Don Tomás Gutiérrez before his passing in March 2024, crafted alongside his son Emiliano in the hills above Chilapa de Álvarez, Guerrero. Distilled entirely from 100% papalote grown in the family’s home village of Tepehuixco, the batch includes 10–15% capón agaves—plants left in the ground for over a year after flowering to concentrate flavor. The Gutiérrez family, now in their third and fourth generations of mezcaleros, credit the exceptional quality of their maguey as the foundation of their work, a commitment reflected in their 50,000+ seedling nursery. Cooked for 6–8 days in an earthen pit fired with encino, tepozcahuite, and tepehuaje woods, the agaves are milled with a wood chipper, fermented in ayacahuite tanks with spring water, and double-distilled in 200-liter copper alambiques. Puntas and colas are carefully blended for balance, yielding a mezcal with the Gutiérrez signature of chocolate and chile, lifted by floral top notes and layered with complex, earthy aromatics. A rare and deeply personal expression of Guerrero’s papalote tradition.
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