Tobalá | February 2022 | Cándido García Cruz | TBLCAN2202 | Fall 2022 Release | 126 bottles

For generations, the tobalá that grows in the valley and forests of Miahuatlán has been used as a source of food, drink, and medicine. With the introduction of distillation in the colonial period, tobalá has become increasingly revered for its flavor profile and medicinal properties. While tobalá has commonly been classified as Agave potatorum or Agave seemanniana, studies from the last decade have confirmed that these plants are more than often hybrids between the two species, resulting in nearly infinite morphological expressions; this phenomon is known as a species complex.

Don Cándido and family worked this small batch of Tobalá using plants provided by magueyeros from the village of San Lorenzo Mixtepec, Miahuatlán, located further east of Logoche, and snuggled in the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur. While production season is generally limited to the hot and dry Spring months, there exists a belief that the full moon of January provides for a decent yield. That may not have necessarily been the case in this instance, but the family finessed a remarkably delicious 100 liters from nearly 2,800kg of agave. We fell in love with this batch as soon as it was composed, and have released 126 bottles though Mezcal Brothers in France and Vine Trail in the United Kingdom.

§  Maguey(es): Tobalá (Tobalá complex – Agave potatorum x Agave seemanniana)

§  Provenance of the maguey: Wild harvested in the sierra of San Lorenzo Mixtepec, Miahuatlán

§  Producer: Cándido García Cruz

§  Region: Logoche, Miahuatlán

§  Date of production: February 2022

§  Soil type: red earth tierra colorada

§  Rest time after harvest: six days

§  Oven: Conical earthen oven; eight days with mesquite and oak wood

§  Rest time after oven: eight days

§  Maceration: Machete and mechanical shredder

§  Fermentation: Native yeasts; three 1200L Montezuma cypress sabino wood vats

§  Dry fermentation time: 48 hours

§  Wet fermentation time: Nine days

§  Distillation: 2x in copper pot stills

§  Final composition: Heads, hearts,

§  Batch size: 100L

§  ABV: 45%