There is a very distinct sweet chocolate, maybe even beet sweetness/earthiness. It smells like an herb or vegetable garden, with notes of dill, dirt, peppers, tomato leaf and celery. Arroqueño has high brix and each piña can weigh 450-500lbs. Pedro found the grower on FB marketplace. The piñas are roasted in a small oven, always for 5 days, though most other mezcaleros differ the time. Fermentation is in wooden barrel made of pine and cypress.
Pedro Pascual Hernandez has been making spirits for more than 50 years in Santa Catarina Minas, where nearly every palenque in town preserves the ancestral tradition of distilling in clay pots crafted in the village of Santa Maria Atzompa. With the help of his nephew Lalo, Tío Pedro produced this batch of Arroqueño at his palenque, La Esperanza. Tío Pedro's batch sizes are often relatively small due to the capacity of his production methods. This particular spirit exudes boldness as soon as it is opened and presents a pleasant honeyed sweetness on the palate.
