Madrecuixe & Cuishe mezcal

Karwinskii is unusual among agaves: it grows a woody trunk, so a mature plant looks more like a small palm than a rosette. Farmers distinguish a whole family of local types by trunk length and leaf shape — cuishe, bicuishe, madrecuixe, barril, tobaziche, largo — and each behaves differently in the oven.

Botanically they are all treated as Agave karwinskii, which is why a catalogue records them under one species while a label proudly says madrecuixe. The trunk carries less sugar than the heart, so producers make choices about how much of it goes into the roast, and that choice shapes the spirit.

The house style of karwinskii is savoury: brine, cooked vegetable, black pepper and wet earth, with a dry, mineral finish rather than sweetness.