Reviews / Cocuy Saroche

Review ·

Cocuy Saroche

Venezuela's answer to mezcal, from a whiskey factory

Score: 3.0/5 agaves

Cocuy Saroche bottle
  • Producer: Saroche Cocuy
  • Region: Mexico
  • Agave: Cocui
  • ABV: 43%
  • Price: $90–150 ($$$)

Verdict

Cocuy is a legitimate agave spirit from Lara state, and Saroche is the bottle most Americans will meet first. It's honest and vegetal in a way that will confuse anyone expecting smoke, but track it down if you're curious where agave distillation goes once it leaves Mexico. Buy for the shelf-expansion, not the revelation.

Category-curious, not defines the upper tier

Tasting notes

Nose: Green banana up front. Wet clay, a flash of eucalyptus, faint caramel underneath

Palate: Clean, mid-weight, closer to cachaça than to mezcal, the Agave cocui lands as vegetal and grassy at 43%, with a soft industrial smoothness from DUSA's column-happy house

Finish: Herbal, cleanly cut

The bottom line

A worthwhile curiosity for the agave completist