![](https://4df27b.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/RAICILLA_Distilling.jpg?time=1722039453)
MEZCAL’S ELDER COUSIN
Raicilla is a spirit made from agaves distilled in remote areas only in Jalisco state. Raicilla is a mezcal – but not on the label, due to Mexican regulations. Raicilla goes way back in time; its distillation was introduced in the 1600s from the Spanish colonies in the Philippines, which results now in the common use of the “primitive” Philippine double-chamber clay still.
![Untamed agave Maximiliana](https://4df27b.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/Pic2_Page_1-1-scaled-e1677955522482.jpg?time=1722039453)
There are at least eight kinds of agave, all of them wild, some with several local varieties. More about Raicilla Agaves info
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Both angustifolia (espadín) and rhodacantha are distilled in Oaxaca. Mezcals from the Jalisco varieties don’t taste like the Oaxacan ones: a bit more intense, among other things.
![taken at the occasion of the formal denomination of raicilla 2019](https://4df27b.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/raicilla-bottles.jpg?time=1722039453)
taken at the occasion of the formal denomination of raicilla 2019
Less commercialized, raicillas seem more individuated than Oaxaca mezcals
![](https://4df27b.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/mexicat_masparillo-label.jpg?time=1722039453)
Two differences between raicilla and Oaxacan mezcal: a lot of good raicilla distillers and their customers prefer a lower alcoholic strength than Oaxacans, some 40-42%, and many distillers use only one distillation, producing raicillas that are strikingly soft, rich, and vegetal. Try the beautiful La Venenosa Sierra del Tigre, a single distillation raicilla at 46.5%.
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many raicilla distillers use above-ground adobe oven: no smoky flavor. About raicilla ovens
![Don Luis Contreras filling the bottom pot of a clay potstill](https://4df27b.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/LoadingStillsjpg-scaled-e1677956138392.jpg?time=1722039453)
Don Luis Contreras filling the bottom pot of a clay potstill