ArteNOM Selección de 1414 Blanco
ArteNOM · Destiladora El Pandillo (NOM 1414)
A blanco that rewards patience: what first reads as elegant restraint slowly reveals dense layers of terroir, technique, and highland character. One of the most transparent windows into what El Pandillo does best.
Nose
A deceptively bright opening — cooked agave sweetness lifts first, then unfurls into wet river stone, crushed mint, lime pith, and a whisper of white pepper. Beneath the clarity lurks a green, vegetal density: freshly cut grass, cucumber skin, and a faint bready yeast note from the slow open-air fermentation.
Palate
Silky and rounded on entry with pronounced cooked agave and honeyed citrus, then a rush of highland minerality — chalk, damp granite — reveals itself mid-palate. Layers of eucalyptus, green apple skin, and a peppery, almost saline edge emerge as the sweetness recedes. Weighty but composed, with none of the harshness that lesser blancos hide behind chill.
Finish
Long and quietly complex — lingering agave fiber, black pepper, lime zest, and a cooling herbal echo that fades into stone and grass.
- Agave
- 100% Blue Weber Agave (Agave tequilana Weber azul), grown at ~2,100m elevation in the Los Altos highlands, fully matured
- Production
- Agave slow-cooked in traditional masonry ovens; milled via roller mill after shredding on El Pandillo's custom 'Rooster' shredder; open-air fermentation with wild and proprietary yeasts using rainwater collected in the distillery's 'Frankenstein' condensers; double-distilled in stainless-steel pot stills with copper coils; bottled unaged at 40% ABV
- Region
- Jesús María, Los Altos, Jalisco, Mexico
- Cooking Method
- Agave slow-cooked in traditional masonry ovens; milled via roller mill after shredding on El Pandillo's custom 'Rooster' shredder; open-air fermentation with wild and proprietary yeasts using rainwater collected in the distillery's 'Frankenstein' condensers; double-distilled in stainless-steel pot stills with copper coils; bottled unaged at 40% ABV
- NOM
- NOM 1414
- Additives Free
- Yes
Cocktail Suggestion
The Unlit Room — 2 oz ArteNOM 1414 Blanco, 0.75 oz fresh lime juice, 0.5 oz cucumber-mint syrup (muddle cucumber and mint into warm 1:1 simple, strain), 2 dashes celery bitters. Shake with ice, fine strain into a chilled coupe, garnish with a single mint leaf floated crown-down.
Food Pairing
Aguachile verde with wild shrimp, cucumber, serrano, and lime — the dish's clean heat and herbaceous brightness mirror the tequila's concealed complexity.
Bottled from Felipe Camarena's El Pandillo distillery — home of the hand-built shredder 'Rooster' and the water-collecting 'Frankenstein' still — this ArteNOM release captures the ingenuity and highland purity of one of tequila's most quietly revered makers.
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