Salvadores Cafe y Cacao Mezcal Artesanal

Salvadores Cafe y Cacao Mezcal Artesanal is an eight-year espadín distilled with coffee beans, cacao, and a suite of warm spices in a copper alembic still, layering botanical complexity over the mineral backbone typical of Oaxacan pit-roasted agave. The spirit follows Salvadores Mezcal's traditional production arc through roasting, crushing, and fermentation, then diverges in the second distillation, where whole botanicals vapor-infuse the base mezcal. The result sits at the intersection of palenque tradition and creative redistillation, anchored by agave that spent nearly a decade in the ground before harvest. Salvadores operates in Oaxaca using methods that predate industrial distillation by centuries. Mature agave piñas roast in earthen pits fired with oak and river stone, then rest under earth and fiber mats for three to five days. The roasted hearts are crushed under a tahona wheel pulled by horse or hand, and the juice ferments wild in open wooden tubs exposed to airborne yeast. Double distillation in a copper alembic concentrates the smoke and mineral, and in this expression, coffee, cacao, clove, anise, cinnamon, and nutmeg enter the still during the second pass, adding aromatic layers without sweetening the base spirit. The nose opens with coffee and cocoa, followed by warm spice—clove, nutmeg, cinnamon—and a thread of anise that keeps the profile from going heavy. The palate balances roasted agave smoke with the bitter edge of dark chocolate and espresso, while the spice blend adds heat and aromatic lift. Drink it neat after dinner alongside dark chocolate with sea salt, or pour it over a single large cube with a twist of orange peel to open the botanicals. It works in a riff on an Old Fashioned where the spice notes replace bitters, or simply sipped slowly next to a cortado. In stock at Off Premise in Lincoln Park.