Wahaka Mezcal Guajolote con Fruta

It has the faintest scent of sparkling cider and mint. The palate is full of a mineral taste, like stale bread, unfortunately. It's fairly sweet and does have those apple and pear notes, so it isn't completely off, but this is not what I expected and the stale bread flavor is overpowering. The sweetness really helps to counteract the minerals, but it doesn't entirely succeed. Fortunately, though, the sweetness does work well on the finish. There's a lot of spice present with a cinnamon burn among smoke and earthy notes. The flavor is actually quite good in a pleasurable way if the stale bread is overlooked. It has a decent balance of bitter, tart fruit, sweet fruit, mineral, floral, umami, and herbal flavors. But then the spice takes over. This is surprisingly not terrible like it initially tastes, but it's overpowered and unbalanced as a result. The apple and pear flavors are quite nice though. The fruitiness is very prominent but that alone doesn't save it. Some melon and banana flavors do eventually appear, but they don't rescue it.