Puntas Mezcal

Every distillation begins with puntas, the high-alcohol heads. Most distillers blend them back into the batch; some bottle them straight because that fraction carries the most volatile aromatics — ripe fruit, citrus oil, green pepper and a fierce mineral bite.

Mezcaleros traditionally judge a batch by the perlas, the bead of bubbles that forms when puntas are poured. Long-lasting pearls signal correct strength, which is how proof was measured long before hydrometers reached the palenque.

Bottled puntas are not for beginners. Served at cellar temperature in a small copita, they show a distillery's character at full volume.