Oaxaca · Puebla · Mixteca · Sierra Sur · Valles Centrales

5 Sentidos

Drink With Respect. Single-village, single-mezcalero, often single-batch.

Espadín agave loaded into the underground conical oven for an eight-day roast — Miahuatlán, Oaxaca
2017
Export-brand launch
11
Producer families
27
Bottlings at El Destilado
10%
Profit-share to producers

Why we carry them

5 Sentidos (also written Cinco Sentidos) is, in our opinion, the most important mezcal project in the United States today — a curatorial label rather than a single distillery. Each bottle names the mezcalero, the village, the agave, the still, and the batch. We carry it because no other label in our store gives you that level of transparency, and because the bottlings keep rotating in ways that reward customers who pay attention. The "same" Espadín from the same family next year will taste different. That's the point.

We carry over a dozen 5 Sentidos bottlings at any one time, plus two private-batch Off Premise releases — bottles we hand-selected with the team and put our own name alongside the mezcalero's.

The founder · Jason Cox · El Destilado

5 Sentidos was founded by Jason Cox, an Indiana-born American whose path to Oaxaca was unusual. Cox studied politics and economics, then taught English in Panama as a Peace Corps reproductive health instructor, then worked as a medical interpreter for the Ohio Hispanic Coalition, then transitioned to courtroom interpretation — which is what eventually pulled him to Oaxaca. He arrived on New Year's Eve 2015 planning to study Spanish for a month. He stayed.

In Oaxaca he met chef Joseph Gilbert, who was staging at local restaurants. Gilbert introduced him to Judah Kuper of Mezcal Vago — a relationship Cox has since called formative ("a mentor in some sense, and a good voice for how to try to build an ethically-minded business when it comes to mezcal"). Cox and Gilbert opened El Destilado together — a 32-seat restaurant in centro Oaxaca with a nine-course tasting menu and a mezcal program that today carries 27 bottlings from 11 producer families. They lived in the back room during the eight months it took to secure a liquor license.

5 Sentidos began as El Destilado's house brand, evolved into a curated label, and launched as an export brand in 2017. The name refers to the producers' practice of relying only on their five senses (no hydrometers, no instruments) to make the spirit. The brand's tagline is "Drink With Respect."

Cox runs the project on a model that's rare in the category: he pays above market price for batches, doesn't pressure producers on volume, and runs a 10% profit-sharing program that funds infrastructure improvements at the palenques. Each bottle bears the producer's name on the label — not Cox's. PUNCH named 5 Sentidos one of the 10 mezcal producers to know in October 2024. (Founder details sourced from PM Spirits, the brand's US importer.)

Eduardo "Lalo" Pérez Cortés · Miahuatlán

Eduardo "Lalo" Pérez Cortés in the agave field at his family palenque in Miahuatlán, Oaxaca
Lalo runs the family palenque in Miahuatlán, Oaxaca, deep in the Sierra Sur. His Espadín Puntas — the heads pulled off the still mid-distillation — is one of the project's benchmark bottles, and his work was the centerpiece of our in-store Cinco Sentidos tasting in May. Cane-pressed mezcal made the way his grandfather made it: agave roasted underground for eight days, milled with horse and tahona, fermented in pine vats with ambient yeasts, and double-distilled in a small copper alembic.

The mezcaleros · the names on the bottles we carry

5 Sentidos prints the producer's name, village, agave species, still type, and bottling ABV on every label. Off Premise currently has bottles from:

  • Eduardo "Lalo" Pérez Cortés · El Nanche, Miahuatlán, Oaxaca · Espadín Puntas (works at his father Tío Tello's family palenque)
  • "Tío" Pedro Hernández Arrellanes · Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca · Espadín (A. Angustifolia Haw), pine-vat ferment with well water, double-distilled in clay pots
  • Alberto Martinez · Santa Catarina Albarradas, Oaxaca · Sierra Negra (A. americana), milled by hand with wooden mallets, fermented in stone vats with spring water and tepehuaje bark, double-distilled in clay pots — at ~7,500 ft elevation
  • "Tío Tello" Pérez Ramos · El Nanche, Miahuatlán, Oaxaca · Cuishe, Madrecuixe — tall, columnar maguey grown for decades before harvest
  • Delfino Tobón · San Pablo Ameyaltepec · Pechuga De Mole Poblano (mechanical milling, stone-vat ferment, second distillation with cooked chicken and mole poblano in a hybrid Filipino still); also Pizorra (A. Marmorata, wild-harvested) and Pechuga de Papalote — distilled on a home-made 3-plate copper / stainless hybrid
  • La Colección Mixteca · curated bottlings (since 2019) from across the Mixteca region of Oaxaca and Puebla; a portion of sales funds palenque infrastructure

Other named producers in the wider 5 Sentidos catalog (per the importer): Amando Alvarado Alvarez (Santa Maria Ixcatlán, Oaxaca · Papalometl A. potatorum, bull-hide ferment with spring water), Marcelo Luna (Zoyatla, Puebla · Espadilla A. angustifolia), Felix Macedas Jinez (Zapotitlán, southern Puebla · Candelillo A. Karwinskii subvarietal, distilled on a galvanized-steel boiling chamber under a clay "cazuela" hat), Anatolio Ramírez (San José Río Minas, Mixteca Alta · Mexicanito A. Rhodacantha, 56-liter batches, stainless boiler with clay condensing chamber), Atelo Ramírez & Laura Arriaga (ensambles of Pichomel, Azul, Papalome).

Plus our own Off Premise Private Batch Espadín con Mandarina — a 5 Sentidos bottling rested with whole mandarinas, made specifically for the shop.

The land · Sierra Sur, Mixteca, Valles Centrales, Puebla

Lalo Pérez Cortés at the family palenque, Miahuatlán
The bottlings span Oaxaca's major mezcal-producing regions and several less-traveled ones. Sierra Sur (Miahuatlán) gives us Lalo's benchmark Espadín. Valles Centrales contributes the classic Espadín-and-Arroqueño axis. The Mixteca — straddling Oaxaca, Puebla, and Guerrero — sits at the heart of our most adventurous 5 Sentidos lineup, the rotating "Edición 4" series. And from San Pablo Ameyaltepec, Puebla, Delfino Tobón makes one of the most unusual pechugas in the project — built around wild Papalote (agave potatorum) and the spice and chili profile of mole poblano.

The agaves · maguey by maguey

5 Sentidos is the easiest way in our store to taste through the spectrum of Mexican maguey:

  • Espadín — the workhorse, fast-growing, the spine of the lineup
  • Tobalá / Papalote — wild, small, mountain-grown, intensely aromatic
  • Mexicano — vegetal, pine-y, often grown on terraces
  • Cuishe / Madrecuishe — tall, columnar, decades to mature
  • Arroqueño — slow-maturing, savory, dense
  • Sierrudo, Bicuixe, Jabalí, Tepeztate — wilder still, single-batch only

Some bottlings are ensambles — blends of multiple agaves cooked, milled, fermented, and distilled together. Others are single-maguey. The label tells you which.

Production diversity · why no two bottles taste alike

One of the most striking things about 5 Sentidos is that no two producers make the spirit the same way. Reading across the lineup, you find:

  • Milling: hand wooden mallets, mechanical, horse-and-tahona — varies by village and equipment
  • Fermentation vessels: pine vats, stone vats, bull hide, with spring water, well water, or tepehuaje bark
  • Stills: clay pots, copper alembics, hybrid Filipino, galvanized-steel + clay-cazuela combinations, home-made 3-plate copper-stainless hybrids, Krassel column stills
  • Cane / agave elevation: Sierra Negra grown at 7,500 ft, Papalometl at 6,000 ft, Espadín at 5,200 ft
  • Batch sizes: 56 liters at the small end (Anatolio Ramírez's Mexicanito); 55–80 liters typical for Espadín; pickup is whatever the maestro produced

This is why the lineup is genuinely educational: side-by-side, you can taste how the SAME agave species in two different villages, fermented in two different vessels, distilled on two different stills, comes out two different bottles. (Production specifics sourced from PM Spirits.)

How to read the label

Every 5 Sentidos bottle carries the mezcalero's name, the village, the agave species, the still type (clay, copper, alembic, refrescador), and the ABV the maestro chose to bottle at. Most are between 47% and 52% — proof of bottling at the producer's preferred strength rather than the importer's. Read the back: each label is a paragraph about the people who made what's inside.

One technical note worth knowing: most 5 Sentidos bottlings are labeled as destilados de agave rather than as certified mezcal. Producers in this part of the country often opt out of the formal NOM certification — both because the certification process favors larger producers and because these tiny single-batch runs don't fit the bureaucratic mold. The spirit is the same; the regulatory category is different.

Press · what other people are saying

The importer · PM Spirits · sister-brand to Alambique Serrano

5 Sentidos is imported into the United States by PM Spirits in Brooklyn, the same importer that brings in Alambique Serrano. PM Spirits was founded by Nicolas Palazzi and built its national portfolio by working only with small, transparent, producer-led brands — many of which we carry at Off Premise. If you like 5 Sentidos, the rest of the PM Spirits portfolio is the natural next shelf to walk.

From the field

Eight-day underground roast
Eight-day underground roast
Lalo Pérez Cortés · Miahuatlán
Lalo Pérez Cortés · Miahuatlán
At the family palenque
At the family palenque

In stock at Off Premise

13 bottles · click to add to cart

5 Sentidos Corazon de Espadin (Cream Private Batch)

5 Sentidos Corazon de Espadin (Cream Private Batch)

This batch of Corazón de Espadín, a world premiere for 5 Sentids, wes distilled by Eduardo "Lalo" Pérez Cortés of El Nanche, Oaxac. To produce this batch, Lalo harvested "quiotudo" Espadin la Angustli…

$150
Cinco Sentidos Arroqueno, Tio Pedro

Cinco Sentidos Arroqueno, Tio Pedro

Pedro Pascual "Tío Pedro" Hernandez Arrellanes has been distilling mezcal in Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca for more than fifty years, and this Cinco Sentidos Arroqueno reflects every one of them. Arroq…

$135
Cinco Sentidos Espadín Capon, Alberto Martinez

Cinco Sentidos Espadín Capon, Alberto Martinez

Alberto Martínez López crafts this espadín capón at Palenque La Escondida in Santa Catarina Albarradas, a high-elevation village in Oaxaca's Valles Centrales at 7,500 feet above sea level. The capón m…

$130
Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Azul

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Azul

This batch of azul mezcal from Cinco Sentidos showcases agave Tequilana Weber distilled not in Jalisco but 250 miles southeast, in Reyes Metzontla, Puebla. Maestro mezcalero couple Atelo Ramírez and L…

$160
Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Azul y Papalome

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Azul y Papalome

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4 is an ensamble mezcal that unites cultivated agave Azul (Agave tequilana Weber) with wild agave Papalome (Agave potatorum), distilled by maestro mezcalero…

$160
Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Blanco

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Blanco

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4—Blanco is a single-batch mezcal distilled by Delfino Tobón Mejía in San Pablo Ameyaltepec, Puebla, from agave the producer calls Blanco—massive, low-yield…

$160
Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Pizorra

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Pizorra

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Pizorra is a single-village mezcal distilled from wild-harvested agave Pizorra (Agave marmorata) by maestro mezcalero Delfino Tobón Mejía in San Pablo Am…

$160
Off Premise Batch Cinco Sentidos Arroqueno [Was $150]

Off Premise Batch Cinco Sentidos Arroqueno [Was $150]

This batch of Arroqueño from Cinco Sentidos marks the first time the project has bottled a spirit made by Andrés "Andresón" Jarquín, the father-in-law of young mezcalero Eduardo "Lalo" Pérez. Distille…

$120
5 Sentidos Espadin con Mandarina (Off Premise Private Batch) 49.3% ALC./ VOL. 750ml

5 Sentidos Espadin con Mandarina (Off Premise Private Batch) 49.3% ALC./ VOL. 750ml

Eduardo "Lalo" Pérez Cortés distilled this 62-liter batch of Espadín con Mandarina in the weeks before Día de Los Muertos 2025, bottling it exclusively for Off Premise in Chicago to mark his first vis…

$150
Cinco Sentidos Cuishe Tio Tello

Cinco Sentidos Cuishe Tio Tello

Cinco Sentidos Cuishe Tio Tello is distilled by Eleuterio "Tío Tello" Pérez Ramos, a master mezcalero with over fifty years of production experience in Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz, Oaxaca. This mezcal…

$130
Cinco Sentidos Espadín Puntas, Eduardo 'Lalo' Perez Cortez

Cinco Sentidos Espadín Puntas, Eduardo 'Lalo' Perez Cortez

Type: Mezcal Joven (unaged), artisanal / traditional; high-proof puntas (first cut/heads of the distillation) Agave Type: Espadín (Agave angustifolia Haw); typically 10-year-old mature plants Producer…

$130
Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Papalome

Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Papalome

This batch of Papalome was distilled entirely from wild-harvested agave by husband and wife mezcalero duo Atelo Ramirez and Laura Arriaga in Los Reyes Metzontla, Puebla. Atelo harvested 263 Papalome p…

$160
Cinco Sentidos Pechuga De Mole Poblano Delfino Tobon Mejia 95.8 Proof

Cinco Sentidos Pechuga De Mole Poblano Delfino Tobon Mejia 95.8 Proof

This exceptionally unique spirit is produced by Delfino Tobón Mejía in San Pablo Ameyaltepec, Puebla. The base for this remarkable Pechuga is wild Papalote (agave potatorum), harvested at peak maturit…

$150
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