Mal Bien - Felix Ramirez Espadin Mezcal
Mal Bien Description
Since 2016, the Mal Bien team has been traveling Mexico, driving off the map and into mountains filled with treacherous roads, police officers of questionable moral character, feral dogs, indigenous languages, narcos, ancient relics, machete wielding protestors, insect based meals, mudslides, blockades, corrupt politicians, and many of the world's kindest, funniest, most brilliant people. In addition to some hard to believe stories, the result has been a bounty of relationships with the country's best distillers, whose work we are excited to share with you.
Espadín from Ejutla! Félix Ramírez (Mendez) is a second-generation mezcalero based in the town of Yogana, about an hour and a half drive south of Oaxaca de Juárez. The Espadín piñas are roasted in earthen pit for three days before a five day rest. Milling is by tahona and the fibers ferment with well water in Cypress tina followed by a single distillation through a copper alembic still with refrescadera typical to the Ejutla region, having a cool water-submerged montera above the pot with two rectifying plates inside. The cold water and the plates work to further distill the vapors, so a single pass is usually all that's needed to get close to the desired spirit