Destilado De Agave, Yaquiana 'Bacanora De Barranco' (Familia Encinas), 'Sonora',

• Destilado de Agave produced in San Pedro de la Cueva, Sonora • Maestros Mezcaleros Abel & Genaro Encinas • 100% Yaquiana (Agave angustifolia) • Cooked in a cylindrical earthen pit oven  • Milled using a small mechanical grinder • Fermented underground in stone, earth, and clay pits (barranco) using well water • Distilled twice in a hybrid copper & steel pot still • Sharp at first opening, this batch softens fast into savory aromas of bay leaf, oyster shell, sweet tobacco, garlic confit, and potting soil…then does a total 180 on the palate, with a potpourri of raspberry, lavender, coriander, moth balls, and linen (grandma’s house vibes, in the best way) • 80 liters produced in February 2023 • 51.1% ABV (ABV may vary batch to batch) The very first Bacanora to arrive in the Skurnik portfolio, and an incredible one at that. Yaquiana from Northern Sonora—widely presumed to be an Agave angustifolia—is cooked in an unusual, cylindrical earthen chamber dug into the ground, then milled using a small mechanical grinder (almost like a woodchipper). The resulting fibers and liquids are then fermented with well water in large holes dug straight into the ground, which appear almost like a series of moon craters or Swiss cheese.   This is one of the few examples still in production today—dating back to at least the 16th century—of employing this disinct method of agave fermentation, using an easily hidden fermentation chamber, which was historically often used in mountain valleys and ravines when avoiding authorities and poachers.  Sonora’s Bacanora is one of the few, but growing, number of agave distillate categories with a unique D.O. (though it is not yet recognized by the US government). To be certified as Bacanora (and thus, to use the word explicitly on the label) there are several stipulations; most mimic those of Mezcal Artesanal, but notably the Bacanora D.O. requires producers to use only the maguey Pacifica (another regional Agave angustifolia Haw variant).