Cinco Sentidos La colección Mixteca Edition 4--Pizorra

Wild Agave marmorata doesn't show up in bottles often, and when it does, it's rarely from Puebla's high-altitude pueblos. This expression comes from maestro mezcalero Delfino Tobón Mejía in San Pablo Ameyaltepec, a village whose Nahuatl name translates to "the mountain where water is born." Distilled in September 2022 and bottled in August 2024 after nearly two years of rest, this is part of Cinco Sentidos' La colección Mixteca series, which documents single-palenque mezcals from outside Oaxaca's usual production zones. Jason Cox founded Cinco Sentidos at El Destilado restaurant in Oaxaca City with a simple mandate: pay producers above market rates, share 10% of profits with the maestros, and print their names on every label, not his own. Delfino foraged the wild Pizorra agaves from the mountainous outskirts of his village, working alongside family and friends to harvest the massive white-striped piñas. He roasted them underground with tlahuicole firewood for four days, then milled the cooked agave with a mechanical shredder before fermenting naturally with spring water for about a week. The distillation happened once in a custom hybrid three-plated copper still, and Delfino proofed the final spirit with a careful blend of heads, hearts, and holanda to find balance. It's the kind of hands-on, site-specific work that defines mezcal at its most compelling. The result is a mineral-driven, herbaceous mezcal with the vegetal intensity wild marmorata is known for, layered with earthy smoke from the underground roast and subtle citrus brightness from copper distillation. This is contemplative stuff, best sipped neat in a veladora to catch the aromatics as they shift. A few drops of water can coax out floral notes hiding beneath the smoke. Pair it with grilled lamb, tlayudas topped with quesillo, or dark chocolate to echo the spirit's earthy, smoky finish. It's a serious bottle for anyone who wants to understand what Puebla's Mixteca region brings to the mezcal conversation, and it's on the shelf now at our Lincoln Park shop.