One of the many things that draws me to agave spirits is the variety of taste that is impacted by agave type, the hands of the people who make them and the region of Mexico they are made in. While tequila has long been the dominant category within mezcal, other categories are becoming more known. Raicilla is an example.

A category of mezcal made in the southern areas of Jalisco that cover the coastal region of Cabo Corrientes and the municipalities of Mascota and San Sebastian del Oeste. Raicilla is sometimes referred to as the precursor of tequila in that it’s from the same rustic lineage. In 2019, raicilla received a protected Denomination of Origin (DOC), highlighting a growth in popularity and prestige. 

A great entry level raicilla is La Venenosa Tabernas III edition. 

Brand Story

La Venenosa (The Poison) was founded by Chef Esteban Morales in 2011 to champion small mezcal producers in Jalisco. To make the products, Morales scoured the state, searching for the best producers he could find. Morales was a visionary because he saw that lesser known Mexican spirit categories like raicilla, bacanora and sotol deserved a place in the pantheon of premier Mexican alcoholic drinks on the world stage.

Each product within the La Venenosa range is made by different maestro taberneros from different agave species with different techniques. The La Venenosa Tabernas is a highlight of an already stacked roster.

Presentation

The La Venenosa Tabernas bottle has a beautiful label that draws the eye immediately. A black and white taberna (distillery) positioned in the middle of a Mexican landscape is front and centre. 

On the back of the label, drawings of the maestro taberneros are present: Don Benito Rios and Don Jose Rios, two brothers who make their racilla in the Mascota region of Jalisco. Their distillery is surrounded by the pepper plants and when it comes to making the raicilla, they cook the agave in large brick ovens and distill it in steel vats. 

Further down the label, there’s plenty of detail about how the product has been produced, to the point that even the bottle number has been identified. Mine is 144 from a batch of 1500.

Tasting Notes 

When the top of La Venenosa Tabernas comes off, an aroma of pine and wet grass strikes my nose like that of an early spring morning. This is accompanied by additional notes of black pepper and wood.

The first sip brings on a sweet smoke, followed by a stronger undercurrent of black pepper that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Because there’s a spike of nuts and mushrooms that surges into the gap and then transforms into a smoky aftertaste that makes for easy drinking.

A few more sips reveal fruitier flavours of peach, lemon and apple, showing that the Tabernas is as complex as I thought it would be. In short, this raicilla opens the door for further exploration beyond tequila and nicher mezcal expressions that are going to make you have a good time.