NETA Espadin Candido Garcia Cruz Mezcal

NETA Espadín from Mezcalero Candido García Cruz was distilled in March 2015 (Batch ESPLOG-001). Candido works with quiotudo agaves, meaning he cuts each plant’s quiote before it has a chance to flower. This concentrates the agave’s sugar in the piña rather than sending the energy towards reproduction but requires extra time for each plant to fully ripen. The extra time improves the yield of each piña and develops a richness of flavor. In March 2015, under the light of a full moon, Candido and his family harvested 90 gigantic, quiotudo Espadín plants from a mineral-rich parcel of their land. On this parcel, they grow their maguey alongside alternating crops of the corn, beans, and squash that provide much of the food for their family. Later that month, they roasted the sugar-rich piñas with mesquite wood in their earthen oven. The cooked piñas rested for a week before being chopped by machete and passed through a mechanical mill. The dry fibers were let to sit for two days before they added filtered water to the fermentation tanks. After 16 days of fermentation, the tepache was ready for distillation. Candido worked the copper pot stills with his two daughters. He adjusted the richness of the batch with heads, hearts, and común macizo, which yielded roughly 900 liters of this destilado de Espadín.

NETA is a colloquial word in Mexico that translates to “the real deal” or “the truth”. Since 2012, the brand has worked closely with several small, family producers and a cooperative of twelve palenqueros from the southern valleys and hills of Miahuatlán, Oaxaca. The region has preserved its reputation for producing some of the finest mezcales and agave spirits anywhere in Mexico. The team behind NETA presents a carefully curated selection of extraordinary spirits that would otherwise never be found outside of its place of origin.

Think tropical fruit smoothie.