The Magic of Las Perlas

Eléctrico’s different mezcals have an Alcohol by Volume (AbV) rating of around 42-47%, depending on the variety of agave distilled, how long it has matured, and whether a ‘Distilled With’ ingredients such as lemongrass or tepehuaje bark is present.

Eléctrico sippers are not macho men, trying to out-man each other, slamming over-proof spirits with heft but no heart. Eléctrico, like all great mezcals, is a much more intense experience. Mind you, if you were to slug the second distillate of Eléctrico Mezcal straight from the spigot, you could likely go blind because the second distillation purifies the spirit to lethal levels of alcohol, well into the 90%+ range.

The majority of mezcaleros temper this with water. We don’t. We retain some of the ordinary, the characterful first distillate, which is only about 35% AbV, and balance the mezcal with that. Of course, this doesn’t mean there isn’t water in Eléctrico. All our mezcals contain a mixture of water, ethanol, and trace elements of the characteristics of the maguey, the wood smoke, the earth, and the minerals in our delicious artesian water.

Finding the balance of water to alcohol (ethanol) is a much-prized skill of all great Maestro Mezcaleros. Eléctrico’s Maestro Cirino is exceptional. He uses the traditional method of streaming mezcal droplets from a tiny hole in a cane into a small bowl. The jet creates bubbles, or pearls (perlas), and from their size and the length of time before they burst, he can judge the AbV. Too much alcohol or too much water and the pearls burst too soon.

Of course, in the modern age, the laboratories of the CRM, the mezcal regulatory body, have to check the exact balance before licensing Eléctrico for export. Still, you’ll only get very short odds of Cirino making a mistake.

It might sound like alchemy, but it seems to work, as a scientific paper published in Nature in July 2020 attests.

The pearls survive the longest at approximately 55% AbV. Cirino reduces it from there to a less inflammatory 42-47%, so you may fully appreciate ‘El Brillo’, the glow of Eléctrico Mezcal.