5 Sentidos Pechuga de Mole Poblano
5 Sentidos Pechuga de Mole Poblano is a pechuga-style mezcal at 49.3% ABV (98.6 proof), 750mL, from maestro mezcalero Delfino Tobón Mejía in San Pablo Ameyaltepec, Puebla. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA.
5 Sentidos (Cinco Sentidos) began as the house mezcal line of Oaxaca's El Destilado restaurant, built to showcase small-batch, uncertified agave spirits made the traditional way. Delfino roasts wild-harvested Papalome agave (10–15 years old) in an underground earthen oven, mills it, and lets it ferment naturally. For the second distillation, in his handmade three-plate copper hybrid still, a basket of raw chicken breast — prepared by his wife, Nallely — and Puebla's traditional mole poblano, a sauce of 20-plus ingredients (chocolate, apples, bananas, peanuts, almonds, sesame seeds, chile ancho, chile mulato, cinnamon, cumin, anise, and cloves), is suspended inside the still so the rising vapour passes through it and picks up its flavour. That vapour-seasoning is the heart of every true pechuga.
The result is one of the most polished pechugas bottled: oatmeal, cedar, chamomile, and lemonade on the nose; a creamy, dessert-like palate of sweet chocolate, nuts, matcha, and cinnamon spice; and a clean, gently peppery finish. It is savory-sweet and elegant rather than smoke-led — a world away from everyday mezcal. Explore the 5 Sentidos collection and our wider tequila and mezcal range at Del Mesa Liquor.
Serving note: sip it neat in small pours to appreciate the mole complexity — this is a special-occasion bottle. It also shines in a mezcal Old Fashioned or a smoky Margarita.
What is pechuga mezcal? A celebratory style in which an already-distilled mezcal is redistilled with fruits, nuts, grains, and spices — plus a raw chicken breast (pechuga) suspended in the still — so the vapour absorbs their flavours and softens the spirit.
Why is it called "uncertified" mezcal? 5 Sentidos deliberately bottles traditional spirits made outside the official mezcal certification rules, preserving ancestral methods (and agaves and stills the rules would restrict) rather than altering them to comply.
Is pechuga smoky like regular mezcal? No. The mole-and-chicken redistillation rounds off the smoke; this bottle reads savory-sweet, creamy, and polished — think chocolate, nuts, and spice — rather than campfire-led.
Who makes this mezcal? Maestro mezcalero Delfino Tobón Mejía of San Pablo Ameyaltepec, Puebla, working with wild Papalome agave and his family's mole recipe.