Tío Pedro Hernandez has been making spirits for more than 50 years in Santa Catarina Minas, where nearly every palenque in town preserves the ancestral tradition of distilling in clay pots crafted in the village of Santa Maria Atzompa. With the help of his nephew Lalo, Tío Pedro produced this batch of Mexicano at his palenque, La Esperanza. Tío Pedro’s batch sizes are often relatively small due to the capacity of his production methods. This particular spirit exudes boldness as soon as it is opened and presents savoury vegetable notes with bright, acidic and mineral notes on the palate.

Tio Pedro follows a true ancestral process of producing mezcal. He roasts his agave in a large underground oven, mashes the roasted maguey by hand with wooden mallets and uses open air fermentation in pine vats with well water. After fermentation, he double distills using clay pot stills.