MEZCALERO

A Mezcalero in his agave field in the mountains above San Juan Del Rio

Each Mezcalero bottling is true to the fundamental batch nature of artisan mezcal production. Each bottling is distilled from a single integral batch of agaves that are at least 50% wild or semi-wild, and usually 100%. “Silvestran” agaves take a lot of work to harvest: searching for days in the mountains, packing the agaves back on burros. Then it takes a month of continuous labor to produce a single batch, usually 600-700 bottles

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Mezcalero is both a brand and an intention. The brand is a way for talented artisan distillers to work with, and gain part of their livelihood from, some very special agaves. The intention goes deeper: to help preserve a way of distilling that is also a way of life, deeply linked to the distiller’s family, to his social environs, to his pueblo, to an entire way of life largely deriving from an indigenous culture that is at risk of rapid deterioration under pressure from the modernization of Mexico.

Ansley Coale conceived Mezcalero in 2008, when very few wild agaves were being distilled for export and little attention was being paid to the actual distillers. Coale worked with Jaime Muñoz of Los Danzantes to source and bottle the single batch lots. Mezcalero no. 1 was a tobalá distilled in San Juan del Rio: 168 bottles.