El Búho – Bruxo X Mezcal Espadin

After the big initial hype, I steered a bit clean off Mezcal, because its intense taste was a bit too much for me. However, every once in a while I am in the mood for tequila’s “dirty” cousin and its smoky agave flavour. This is why I wanted to present the Bruxo X Mezcal to you, a blend of Espadin and Barril agaves.

The Bruxo X Mezcal is made by Juan Morales, a third generation Mezcalero with thirty years of experience. He works with his son and daughter and for their monthly output of around 4000 litres they plant new Espadin agaves every two years. It takes the agaves six to seven years to mature and in case of the Barril agaves even ten to twelve years. The area where the agaves grow lies in a central valley which is semi-dry with brown earth and does not get too hot. After the harvest, the pinas, the heart of the agaves, are smoked in a conical earth oven over pine and oak wood. A horse drawn Tahona is used to mill the cooked agaves. Afterwards, the fermentation takes place in one of the seven fermentation tanks and the agave mash is distilled twice in a copper pot-still.

Smoke and flowers

Of course, you will find the typical smoke and burned rubber notes with the Bruxo X Mezcal, too. However, it is more balanced than other ones out there. Beside fruity and mineral notes from the terroir, I found it to be surprisingly floral in the aroma. However, the taste tends more towards citrus fruits with hints of grapefruits. All in all, it is a good Mezcal to start experiencing this spirits category and it seems like the ideal base-spirits for highballs. This is probably the reason why I also created copied a highball cocktail with the Bruxo Mezcal.

Kind of a copycat

I have to admit, that I designed the recipe for the cocktail with the Bruxo X Mezcal after another one by Sepo. With hindsight, I cannot tell you if I did this knowingly or subconsciously, but in the end I myself was surprised how similar the to drinks turned out. Yet, my idea was to use my home-made red currant syrup, because of the Jessy Pinkman recipe, where Mezcal and red currants work together very well. Apart from that, I wanted to use a new Fever Tree Tonic Water in the drink. Instead of the Aromatic Tonic Water Sepo used, I decided to go for the Clementine Tonic Water. While I am a bit sceptical about new flavoured tonic waters, I enjoyed this one very much. It has a clear mandarin note with subtle hints of spices against a classic tonic water background. To give the drink a smoother edge, I also included Reposado tequila.

The drink is very refreshing, but with noticeable smoke notes. There are fruity berry flavours with a hint of bitterness from the tonic water. The flavours of the Mezcal and the Reposado work very good together. Furthermore, you can taste the mandarin notes of the Clementine Tonic Water. “The Búho” is a cocktail that even non-Mezcal-drinkers can enjoy!

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product.