Is it tequila or scotch? Pechuga

[poincaraux]

My friend works for an awesome company. For christmas, his boss told him to pick out a bottle of alcohol and he'd get it as a holiday present. Naturally, he emailed a few of us about this and we came up with some good suggestions. The best of these was Pechuga, touted as the best Mezcal in the world.
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The Pechuga production season is limited to year end due to the special ingredients: Wild mountain apples and plums that must be in season and cannot be substituted.

Pechuga is begun with Minero; mezcal that has already been double distilled. In preparation for a third distillation they place about 75 liters of mezcal in the still and add about 25 lbs of wild mountain apples and plums, big red plantain bananas, pineapples, a handful of almonds and a few pounds of uncooked white rice.

Next, a whole chicken breast, skin removed, bone structure complete, is washed in running water for about three hours to remove any grease. This is then suspended by strings in the atmosphere of the still and a 24 hour, third distillation is begun. The vapor passes over the pechuga and condenses into a crystal clear liquid that has an amazing taste and smoothness.

The reason for the breast they say, is so the mezcal is not dominated by the fruit...a balance.

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Anyway, the boss decided that the Pechuga was a little pricey, so my friend got some good tequila and his first ever bottle of scotch, Auchentoshan.
The Chicken Liquor sounded really interesting, though. It's available in exactly two stores in the US, one in New York and one in San Francisco. Another friend lives in New York and decided that it was just too interesting to pass up, so he bought a bottle and brought it to thanksgiving this year. Year 2003 Bottle 278.

This stuff is crazy. We tried it mid-day on Friday. The first thing you notice is that it's very smoky .. almost peaty like a scotch. In fact, it really does taste like a scotch in many ways. The more you taste it ("Sip it, don't shoot it" says the bottle), the more you pick out all of these interesting flavors. You can both taste and smell the fruit very easily. One person claimed that she could taste the chicken, but I'm not so sure.

The next day, we tried some in tandem with Patron Anejo and Patron Resposado. This was clearly the way to go. I was able to pick out a lot more of the tequila flavors this way.

Overall, this was fantastic. It's clearly the best tequila I've ever had, and I love all of the scotch-y characteristics. We split the cost of the bottle with my friend. As good as it was, I can't see myself buying (or going in on) a $200 bottle of tequila again. This stuff is top-notch, though. 5 stars. Anyone else out there who has tried the Chicken Liquor?

[xadrez]

Thanks for the report! Sounds very interesting. Good idea for a Christmas gift as well.

[poincaraux]

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Thanks for the report! Sounds very interesting. Good idea for a Christmas gift as well.

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No problem. It was very good and very interesting. I don't think I really know enough about tequila (or scotch, for that matter) to do it justice, though, so I'd be interested if any of the more knowledgeable folks have ever tried the Chicken Liquor.