Real Minero Arroqueno Artesanal Mezcal 750ML

Real Minero produces some of the most coveted Arroqueño around, with highly limited batches of the variety being released just once every few years. This particular batch—only the fourth edition of Arroqueño Tradicional the family has bottled—is especially unique in its production. Siblings Graciela and Edgar Angeles Carreño harvested this carefully nurtured Arroqueño (a subspecies of the massive Agave americana, clocking in with an average of 20-year age at maturity) from the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca. The agave was brought home to the Real Minero palenque in Santa Catarina Minas, where it was cooked traditionally, milled by hand using massive wooden mallets, fermented in open air wooden tanks, and finally distilled using traditional Minero-style clay pot stills. After distillation, the mezcal was stored in glass, resting in a cool, dark chamber below the palenque for four months before bottling. All told, the process has taken nearly a quarter century from seed to bottle; a privilege to taste, this mezcal represents a passionate tribute by Maestro Edgar Angeles Carreño to both this beautiful, massive species of maguey and to his family’s storied relationship to its distillation.