El Buho Especial Arroqueño

Rating: 18/23 I know pretty much nothing about El Buho, but I did like the one other arroqueño I tried (Del Maguey), so I picked this up to compare. Since today is Cinco De Mayo, I figured it was probably as good of an opportunity to crack this as I was going to get. N: A lot going on here. Not as much fruit as I'd expected though. I'm getting some cupreata vibes with the tartness, but it's more complex with tamed smoke and dry dirt. Hints of roast chicken breast, but not a lot. A bit of musty paper too. Yeah, a lot of that cupreata sourness, but more tempered with other flavors. Based on the nose, I'd probably guess that this was some sort of blend of cupreata and tobala. P: Smoky, but on the light side. Sour yet sweet flavor like a cupreata, then tobala dry dirt comes out. There's a lot of nuance here, but it's not the usual arroqueño profile I expect. Still, it's tasty. Some faint tropical fruit comes out of that light aspect. Tangerine, light orange, light apricot, and maybe a very small amount of grapefruit. A bit of papery, musty vanilla. Prickly spice with white pepper. There is an underlying mature flavor that has nice nuance and really does make me think of arroqueño. A hint of roast chicken. I like the profile, but it's a bit light. I don't think it's unbalanced so much as I think that it doesn't carry enough weight. Very faint hints of chocolate and cinnamon. It's odd that I get a tad of barrel vibe here. F: Lingering stony creek with a bit of limestone, some restrained sour flavor, and dustings of dry earth. Faint remnants of the barrel spices and a bit more of a rich vanilla than I'd expected. Mild smoke and very occasional memories of fruit. Lingering white pepper at points and a residual low spicy burn. - Conclusion - This is a very good mezcal, though it isn't everything I was hoping it might be. It really needs more fullness - which I'm surprised it doesn't have, considering its high proof. I would definitely take this over Los Vecinos Espadin (16/23) because this has more nuance, but the Los Vecinos does have a fuller flavor an a bit more of a sort of rhum agricole tropical fruit and squash flavor, which is kind of fun. I'd say that this is at least a 17 and could be an 18, but a 19 seems like a stretch. I'll probably give it an 18. Amrut Peated (17/23) has kind of a nicer core flavor, but it's less nuanced. I think that this is definitely better, reinforcing my idea that it's an 18. Gee, it could even be a 19. Resilient 15 (18/23) is understated and nuanced in a way that reminds me of this. It's a weird comparison, but I find the two of them to be similar in quality. I'm pretty sure about my 18 now.