Rainy Season

Aside from being incredibly delicious, Lalo’s rainy season batches bring a new dimension to our understanding of terroir in mezcal and agave spirits, specifically the 4th dimension. Most people are aware that geography and climate influence agaves and in turn spirits, but throughout the long history of mezcal and agave spirits, much less attention has been paid to the season in which the plants are harvested.

 Unlike wine grapes, for example, agave do not have to be harvested in the season when they reach maturity. Once the quiote is cut, the magueyero may leave the plant in the ground for a period of months or even years. Historically, agaves were always harvested and spirits were produced during dry months so that mezcaleros and magueyeros had time to plant crops during the rainy months. However, it’s during the rainy season that the agaves are interacting most with their environment, and (as Lalo’s rainy season experiments seem to prove) are richest in flavor.

Distilling between June and December is certainly a departure from tradition, but that doesn’t make it a bad thing.

This batch

October, 2019 was the first batch of rainy season tobasiche-espadín from Lalocura, and it’s been a revelation. So many of the other rainy season experiments have been mezclas that were less familiar to us, and for which we didn’t have much basis for comparison. Lalo’s dry season tobasiche-espadín (all the other bottles in the USA, so far) is a staple of the Lalocura lineup, and one that provides a useful starting point to understand how production season matters.

Even at 47.97% ABV, this rainy batch has the flavors and intensity turned way up. Notes that were only slightly perceptible in dry season batches seem to present on more equal footing as the notes that dominate the standard dry batches. While it lacks some of the satin sheets texture of the dry season batches, the flavors here are so well structured that the their intensity remains very much under control.

Fans of Lalocura will be excited to learn that this batch of provided the base for the rainy season pechuga that was exclusive to Madre! Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Watch the Youtube link below to learn more straight from the GOAT’s mouth.