Del Maguey Las Milpas Mezcal

Del Maguey Las Milpas is a single village Espadín joven made by Anastacio Cruz Antonio and his sons Rigoberto, Abel and Pedro in the remote hamlet of Las Milpas, set high above San Dionisio Ocotepec in Oaxaca among maize fields and rolling pasture. Del Maguey, founded in 1995 by Ron Cooper, names each bottling for the village that makes it and works with Zapotec palenqueros across Oaxaca.

The Espadín is roasted in an underground oven cut into a granite hillside, crushed with a horse drawn tahona, fermented naturally in open wooden vats and twice distilled in small copper stills. That stone crush and open ferment give a mineral framing: slate and wet stone on the nose, then tropical fruit, citrus, lavender and tarragon across the palate, closing long and dry. Bottled at 46%.