Alambique Serrano Vida Nativa Blend #3 Tepejilote Rum
Alambique Serrano Vida Nativa Blend #3 Tepejilote Rum is a cask-strength, single-origin Oaxacan rum from the Krassel family in Santa Maria Tlalixtac, Oaxaca, Mexico, bottled at a formidable 65.9% ABV (131.8 proof) in a 700mL bottle, with no water, sugar or coloring added. This Vida Nativa Blend #3 - named for the Tepejilote, the pacaya palm - is built entirely from copper alembic pot still rums distilled by Rommel Krassel: one cask aged 46 months in total (33 months in new French oak, finished 13 months in an ex-red wine Hungarian oak cask) married with a second cask aged 35 months in a Mexican fortified wine cask of American oak. Just 529 bottles were filled. Note this is a different Blend #3 from the earlier Blend #3 Matadiablo - same number, entirely different blend. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.
- Style: Cask-strength pot still blend, Vida Nativa series
- ABV: 65.9% ABV (131.8 proof), cask strength
- Size: 700mL
- Producer: Rommel Krassel, Alambique Serrano
- Region: Santa Maria Tlalixtac, Oaxaca, Mexico
- Casks: New French oak finished in ex-red wine Hungarian oak (46 months total), plus Mexican fortified wine cask, American oak (35 months)
- Release: Vida Nativa Blend #3, limited to 529 bottles
Mountain Corn, Bottled at Full Strength
The Krassel family has distilled sugarcane spirit on the steep hillsides of Santa Maria Tlalixtac, in Oaxaca's Canada region, for three generations - German immigrant Max Krassel began with a handmade still on a coffee farm in the 1930s, and today his grandsons Rommel, Axel and William run the stills. Every Alambique Serrano rum starts with organic Java-varietal cane grown between 2,500 and 3,800 feet, hand-harvested and pressed in mobile mills, fermented with wild yeast, and distilled on the family's custom-built Krassel column and copper pot stills. Nothing is added - no sugar, no coloring, no flavoring - and PM Spirits imports the rums to the United States. The Tepejilote (Chamaedorea tepejilote) is a large palm of the tropical forest understory; its name translates from Nahuatl as 'mountain corn', because its unripe inflorescence looks and tastes like baby corn when boiled. Tepejilotes grow near the family's cane mill sites at about 3,000 feet. The rum named for it is the most powerful Vida Nativa blend - all pot still, all cask strength. Explore more of the family in our rum collection and the wider spirits shelves.
Tasting Notes
Eggnog, oat bran, cinnamon roll and caramelized butter on slightly burnt toast on the nose. The palate is oily and silky - nutmeg transitions to soy sauce, anisette and red hots, the savory-umami streak that makes these rums unlike anything else in the glass.
How to Enjoy
Start neat in a small glass and let it breathe; at 65.9% ABV it rewards a slow pour and a splash of water. Compare its pot-still intensity with the Krassel-still silk of Vida Nativa Single Cask #6 Zacua, or its sibling blend Blend #2 Mariposa Vitral.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same as Blend #3 Matadiablo?
No - Matadiablo was an earlier, 750mL Blend #3 (63.4% ABV, four casks including ex-mezcal). Tepejilote is the Vida Nativa Blend #3: a two-cask pot still blend at 65.9% ABV in a 700mL bottle. Different blend, different bottle.
What stills were used?
Copper alembic pot stills only, distilled by Rommel Krassel - the heaviest, most aromatic style the family makes.
What proof is it?
65.9% ABV (131.8 proof), bottled at cask strength with no additives.
How many bottles were made?
529 bottles.
Order Alambique Serrano Vida Nativa Blend #3 Tepejilote from Del Mesa Liquor in San Diego, CA - available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.