Black Sun – Sotomayor Texano

Have you ever heard of Sotol? Well I have, but until now I did not try one myself. Yet, the folks behind Dr. Sours wanted to change that. So, here we are taking a closer look at the Sotomayor Sotol. Luckily, I had some bergamot lemonade essence on hand which seemed like a perfect fit for a Sotol Highball.

First, let us take a quick look at what Sotol is. In contrast to Mezcal, or tequila, Sotol is distilled from Dasylirions also known as dessert spoons. You can only produce Sotol in the three Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango. In this case, the Sotomayor Texano uses one of the rarest Dasylirion varieties. The plants can reach an age of up to thirty years. All in all, the Texano is distilled three times and bottled at an ABV of 48 %.

Similar to agaves, but not quite

It was interesting to taste a Sotol. I have no comparison as how a good one should taste, but the Sotomayor had quite powerful fruity notes. They were different to agave notes, but still reminded me of them. Yet, most of all I tasted a combination of earthiness, menthol and umami notes. Also, somewhat similar to Mezcal, but still different. In the aftertaste, you can find some musky notes as well. In conclusion, the Sotol has a complex taste with a lot of terroir without the smoothness of tequila and the smokiness of Mezcal.

Sotol Sunrise?

The Anvil Bar in Houston used to serve a Tequila Sunrise prepared with Sotol instead of tequila. They argue, that besides the name, that would have been the local spirit of choice during Prohibition. So, for a drink with the Sotomayor, I took inspiration in this and came up with a layered highball style drink. However, instead of crème de cassis, I went for a special raspberry liqueur and topped the drink off with homemade bergamot lemonade. Obviously, in the “Black Sun” the regular Sotomayor, instead of the rare one, works just fine.

The combination of Sotol, citrus fruits and berry notes works very well. The Sotomayor has enough power to stand up to the relatively bold bergamot flavours. The grenadine and the berry liqueur add some dark fruit notes which also compliment the flavour profile of the drink. All in all, the “Black Sun” is a great summer refresher, with a certain complexity from its unusual Mexican base spirit.

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