Scorpion Mezcal - Espadin - Aged 12 Years in a Barrel (Extra Anejo)

Scorpion Mezcal - Espadin Aged in a Barrel for an extraordinary 12 years
53.8% abv, 750ml

Good things come to those who wait, and Master Distiller Douglas French has been waiting a long, long time to release these special mezcals that are some of the oldest ever released. Long before he started making Sierra Norte Mexican Whiskey, he created the Scorpion mezcal brand, and over a decade ago he built an underground warehouse to experiment with aging some extra-old mezcals which are finally ready. These go way, way beyond the normal definitions of mezcal aging (“anejo” is aged at least 1 year, “extra anejo” at least 3 years. These three releases are all between double and 4 times the definition of extra anejo. Tequila aside, virtually nothing like it has ever been released.

We have three different expressions in this extra, extra, extra anejo line from Scorpion: espadin aged 12 years in a barrel, tobala aged 7 years in a barrel and the “barril” agave aged 6 years in a barrel. There are several important things to note here:

• These are easily some of the oldest mezcals ever released, and we say “some of” mostly because of course tequila is a type of mezcal, and there are some extra-aged tequila bottlings out there. But when it comes to extra-aged mezcal other than tequila, there are hardly any.

• The next thing to note here is that these age statements — 12 years, 7 years etc. — represent the amount of time this mezcal was in a barrel. If anyone is wondering if these Drammers Picks from Scorpion are a mix of aging in barrels and in glass, the answer is no, the numbers on these Scorpion mezcal expressions are the amount of time in the barrel alone.

• Next it is important to note that most mezcal is note aged at all, and so of course this is going to taste very different. Many people subscribe to the theory (and we’re often in this camp) that the barrel influence overpowers and steps on the beautiful nuances between the different agave types and (perhaps even more importantly) the different soils and terroir where the agaves are grown. In some ways, this extra-aged mezcal has absorbed enough barrel influence that the resulting flavors are somewhere in between the flavor wheels of mezcal and whiskey. Most of the mezcal we offer is unaged, which is how we usually prefer them, but these unicorn releases from Scorpion are something else, and we think something very special, altogether.

Check out Drammers.com for an extended interview with Master Distiller Douglas French.

This release is only available to registered Members and Observers of Drammers Club - More Information at Drammers.com

Drammers Pick #69