Mexicat is the brainchild of Jorge Alvarez, who discovered raicilla while working in the tequila industry. He sees raicilla as the highest form of spirits distilled from agave. He sources small-batch agave spirits in Zacatecas, and sotol in Chihuahua.
Preserving traditional artisanal craftsmanship is a deliberate goal, both in sponsoring a craft agave spirit and in providing livelihood to Huichol artisans..
Alvarez prefers above-ground roasting. He believes that the absence of smokiness allows a more pure taste of the agave.
Mexicat
MEXICAT 3-Pack Tasting Sampler:
Affordably explore Mexicat Raicilla Sierra, Masparillo, and Sotol Artesanal in a 3 bottle taster pack. Truly excellent distillates, each from a single small batch, at very good prices. Each bottle is enough for two 1.7 oz pours. Packaged in a small wood crate; includes detailed educational cards. 3 x 100ML bottles.
MEXICAT Destilado de Agave Ancestral:
The very rare agave Salmiana Crassispina distilled in a clay Filipino still by Maria de la Luz Martinez Ramos in remote Mexquital, San Luis Potosí. The oldest methods we have encountered: squeezing the crushed agaves by twisting them in a hammock, then fermenting with a pulque yeast. This is as indigenous a spirit as exists, and the most profound agave spirit we have encountered. In a ceramic bottle that we cannot ship because of the risk of its getting broken; we'll have to empty the spirit into a glass 750ml bottle and ship both to you. DO NOT MISS THIS.
MEXICAT Rare Agave Spirit (Gold): Masparillo:
Distilled by hand by Don Lupe Castro in Mezquital de Oro, Zacatecas, close to tequila territory. The agave is a variant of agave Maximiliana called masparillo, a small wild agave growing at high altitudes on thin soils. Don Lupe’s stone-enclosed stills bring out a clean, focused, floral, and mineral spirit. Masparillo is uncommon. This is good stuff.
MEXICAT Rare Agave Spirit (Silver): Manso:
Another hand-distillation by Don Lupe Castro in Mezquital de Oro, Zacatecas, close to tequila territory The agave salmiana is a cultivated agave, here called manso. Don Lupe’s version is extremely well distilled: softly rich, round, citric, and spicy. Amazing price for the quality.
MEXICAT Sotol Artesanal:
Dasylirion Wheeleri from 4th and 5th generation distillers Norma & Bienvenido Fernandez, using artisanal methods in Madera, at 6500 feet in the mountains of Western Chihuahua. Smoky, earthy but very clean; fruity and intense; long finish: best sotol we have tasted. The Nahuatl word from which sotol derives is tzotollin, a small palm tree. There is a local belief that it means sweetness of (in) the head, and that’s certainly what this sotol is.
MEXICAT Raicilla Sierra:
From Mascota in the Sierra Madre Occidental, double-distilled in copper at the destilería of 4th-generation José and Benito Salceda, agronomist brothers and raicilla pioneers deeply engaged in a large sustainability project cultivating agave Maximiliana (called lechuguilla). Flavorful and soft. Double distillation tends to show a smoother side of raicilla, and the 40% abv nicely balances the intensity of the wild Maximiliana.