Lalocura Cuishe Mezcal

Cuishe makes a lean, mineral kind of mezcal, and this Oaxacan bottling leans into it. Green herbs come through clearly, almost garden-like, with citrus running bright alongside them. Underneath sits a dry, stony quality that keeps the whole thing taut rather than sweet.

The roasted agave is unmistakable, carrying the gentle smoke that comes from cooking the plants in an earthen pit before fermentation. It is smoke as seasoning, not as a headline. Cuishe grows tall and slender, and the spirit it yields tends to be sharper and more vertical than the rounder espadín most people meet first.

Additive free, which means what you taste is agave, fire, and time, with nothing softened or sweetened after the fact. Serve it at room temperature in a small copita, 750 mL, and sip it slowly across an evening.