Tasting notes - Abasolo.

Destilería y Bodega Abasolo | Abasolo Whisky | Jilotepec | $40.99* | 88 proof | 100% Cacahuazintle corn

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Welcome back. This week, we explore a whiskey from Mexico called Abasolo. Abasolo is a hundred percent ancestral corn whiskey. The ancestral corn strain is called Cacahuazintle. I do challenge you to say that three times fast. It took me a while to learn. But the other unique thing about this is it's they use a 4,000 year old process called nixtamalization. It's primarily used in preparing corn for Masa. So what you do is you soak corn in an alkaline solution for a given length of time, depending on how hard the kernels are and things like that. But what that solution does is not only softens the kernels, but it also brings out the aromas and flavors of that particular strain of corn.

So this will be the first time it's used in a distillation process. And in that distillation process, it would happen before any kind of malting, milling, or mashing has done. So it's very early on in the process. Being a hundred percent corn whiskey, that process is going to make it truly unique in the sense that you're going to get a lot more different flavors out of the corn than you traditionally would. They bottle it at 88 proof, but then they use a combination of new toasted and used oak barrels, so it's very light in color. On the nose, the smell is a very earthy sweetness with hints of vanilla, a little bit of honey, maybe a little bit of caramel, but mostly, that earthy sweetness from the corn and the vanilla from the barrel.

The taste is a continuation of that smell, that very earthy sweetness from the barrel, but you get more of that honey notes. The finish is very short, but it's got a nice little leathery spice to it. That nixtamalization process definitely brings out a lot more of the corn flavor than what I'm used to in a corn whiskey. This is also my first whiskey from Mexico. It's definitely a unique whiskey for me, but if you're interested in picking it up, I think it's worth a try. If not, anything else just experimentation with it. But remember to drink whiskey the way you want to. And these are just my personal notes. Yours may vary.

Until next time, cheers.

*price is based on a retail stores price in Austin, Texas, and maybe different at other locations.