Rey Campero Cuishe Mezcal 48% 700ml

Rey Campero Cuishe: The Wild Son of the Sierra

To sip Rey Campero Cuishe is to walk into the wild. Not the curated, manicured wilderness of a tourist trail-but the real, untamed highlands of Oaxaca, where the agave grows tall and strange, like alien sentinels watching over the valleys. Cuishe is one of the many wild agaves that thrive in this region's rocky soils, and Rey Campero-true to its name, "King of the Countryside"-treats this rare maguey with the reverence it demands.

This isn't your everyday Espadín. Cuishe is long, fibrous, and notoriously difficult to work with. It yields far less sugar, and takes more time, sweat, and care to coax into spirit. But Rey Campero, helmed by the ever-dedicated maestro mezcalero Romulo Sánchez Parada, isn't in the business of shortcuts. Every step of their process is hands-on and heart-forward: agaves cooked in earthen pits, crushed by tahona, fermented in open wooden vats, and double-distilled in copper. The result is not just artisanal-it's agricultural alchemy.

The Rey Campero Cuishe greets you on the nose with a profile that's electric and alive: bright green herbs, crushed pine, and wildflowers carried on a clean mountain breeze. There's a sharpness here-like the snap of a fresh aloe leaf or the zing of green peppercorn. But it's not harsh. It's alert.

On the palate, it's a journey. First, a peppery bite dances across the tongue, followed by vegetal notes-think grilled asparagus, raw sugarcane, and just a whisper of citrus peel. The texture is lean, almost angular, with a flinty minerality that reminds you of where this agave grew-high, dry, and defiant. The smoke is subtle and elegant, more like the char of singed herbs than the heavy woodsmoke found in some mezcals. And the finish? Long, clean, and haunting, with echoes of green melon and white pepper trailing off like the last note of a mountain song.

What makes Rey Campero Cuishe remarkable isn't just the flavour-it's the tension it holds. This is a spirit that feels wild yet precise, rustic yet sophisticated. It's unapologetically complex, but never convoluted. And above all, it feels honest-like the work of a producer who isn't just making mezcal, but telling the story of a land, a plant, and a family.

Romulo and the Rey Campero team deserve the respect they command. They've turned down offers to scale up, resisted the call of mass production, and remained anchored in their Zapotec roots. That integrity is in every drop.

For the adventurous palate, this Cuishe is a revelation. Not a party pour, but a fireside sipper-something to contemplate, to share with someone who gets it. It's not just mezcal. It's a love letter to Oaxaca, written in smoke, sap, and soul.