Review Detail

This is a pretty good tequila…oh, wait, it's a mescal. My prior experience with mescals was many years ago and I recall whatever I had was pretty rot-gut stuff - not conducive of trying again. Then I recently had a premium mescal and thoroughly enjoyed the smokey, earthy flavor, reminiscent of Lagavulin scotch. I've been drinking/collecting premium tequilas for the last few years, but the high end mescal (forget what it was) I'd drunk hit a special spot - like tequila but different in a way that made me want to add mescal to my usual repertoire. So, I hit the local liquor store, which has a surprisingly good selection of premium spirits, to include a number of high-end tequilas. Alas, other than the $20 buck mescal with the worm in the bottle, they had only one "premium" mescal - Zignum Reposado. I bought the only bottle they had and took it home in great anticipation. What I tasted was a very good approximation of a very good tequila - no smokey flavor I had been craving. I was disappointed - not that it was bad - it was very good, but it wasn't the mescal experience I'd expected. That said, it's good, with a weak amber tea color and slow tears on the glass. The nose is earthy, with hints of coconut, vanilla, and caramel. There's a slight chalkiness to it, sort of like the smell of rain on limestone. It's a part of the nose I like and look for in my favorite tequilas, so it was welcome here. There is an immediate burn on the tongue, but a slight oiliness quickly smooths this out…it is very smooth on the palate after the initial burn. There's a hint of the smoke I was looking for, but it's elusive, like a highland malt (Dalwinnie?). I could not taste agave until the finish, where a hint of smoke also present. All in all, it's good, smooth, and tequila-like. But if you're looking for the mescal smoke and earthiness, Zignum may not be what you're looking for.