Tasting Notes for Ilegal Mezcal - Anejo
Aroma: Hints of honey and soft smoke. Agave plants, dried herbs, earthiness and cherries.
Taste: Fresh flowers, orange rind and peppermint oil. Slightly salty and very herbal. Smoke develops.
Finish: Earthy, cocoa-like finish.
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All of Ilegal Mezcal’s products to date are made with 100% Espadín by fourth-generation mezcaleros that harvest the agave by hand and machete before taking it to be distilled in Oaxaca. The agave piña are roasted in a traditional horno (an earthen pit lined with river stones and wood made from certified sustainable wood farmers) in a process that takes between five and seven days.
Once cooked and the sugars in the plant released, the agave is crushed to traditional Artisanal standards by a horse-drawn tahona (large volcanic mill stone). The sugar juice and leftover fibres produced are placed into pine vats where natural fermentation takes place over seven-ten days. The liquid is then double-distilled. To ensure Ilegal’s flavour profile is very light on smoke, the mezcaleros never cook and distil at the same time in order to avoid contaminating the distillate.
The Joven (unaged mezcal) is bottled as is, or put into medium-toast American Oak barrels to make the Reposado or ex-Bourbon casks for 13 months for the Añejo. Finally, each bottle is hand-corked, labelled, numbered and wax-sealed, giving them a clandestine appeal that nods at the company’s beginnings.