Bicuixe 2018 | Cándido García Cruz | Winter 2020/Summer 2020 Release (2 bottlings) | BCXCAN1804 | 504 Bottles
Available through PM Spirits nationwide
Don Cándido generally makes one or two batches of Bicuixe every year, depending on how much of this wild agave is ready on his lands or those of his family, who often contribute to his productions. He never deviates from the practice of harvesting around the days of a full moon - when the plants’ sugars are most concentrated in the piña - and uses only fully ripened agave.
His years of experience coupled with the particular native yeasts and microorganisms of his palenque yield marvelous results. For this batch, Cándido, his son, and son-in-law gathered close to 200 capón Bicuixe of various sizes, harvested from reddish and rocky cascajudo colorado parcels, with another 100 or so plants coming from a separate red and black gravelly land, located roughly 1,450 meters above sea level.
The harvest began in the first days of March 2018 and the roasting nearly two weeks later. Candido and family cooked the agave with mesquite wood for eight days and allowed the agave to rest for only three days before processing the roasted plants with machete, axe, and mechanical shredder. This short duration of rest of the cooked agaves was attributed to the perfection of the cook, something identified by sight, but most importantly, by eating pieces of the cooked plant, which requires an intimate familiarity with the natural flavors of each type of maguey. The shredded fibers and juice were placed into four 1,200L capacity sabino wood fermentation vats and rested for one day before water was added from his river-adjacent well. The first tina or fermentation tank was ready for distillation eight days later at the beginning of April.
Cándido himself no longer drinks, so much of the composition of the final spirit is done based on sight and aroma, and often without the use of a proof hydrometer. Carefully mixing parts of the puntas and corázon, Cándido looks for a cordon cerrado, or a “closed cord” of bubbles that vaguely resembles a honey comb that let him know that the liquid is of a certain strength of alcohol and that the final composition will meet the high standards of his peers. In this particular batch, the fats and oils of these quality Bicuixe plants left behind a deceivingly large and long-lasting perla that would normally indicate a much higher alcohol percentage. When the lab tests came in, Cándido was surprised to learn that this batch came in at a light 45% alc. The aromas, flavors, and textures are rich and complex —qualities very telling of their region of origin and the hand of the master craftsman.