Heriberto García Sánchez

Second son to maestro palenquero Cándido García Cruz and Eduarda Sánchez, Heriberto was born in 1984. Like other children in Logoche, Heriberto was expected to tend to the pastoring of the animals and help in the planting and harvesting of the corn, beans, squash, and agave that the family cultivates in their patchwork of fields around Logoche and Lachigüizo. As a teenager Heriberto worked his first batches on the palenque of his grandfather, Don Nicolás, who made the transition from a clandestine operation to a tax-paying and locally licensed palenque in the 1970’s. While working with and distilling agave was a generations old tradition, it was not yet a steady means of income for most producers who were principally dedicated to animal husbandry and subsistence agriculture. The late 1990’s and early 2000’s didn’t present the same opportunities that exist today, and at 20, Heriberto hedged his bets and left to look for work in the United States.

Upon his return to Logoche in 2010, Heriberto arrived in the midst of great change. Cándido had recently helped found the cooperative Grupo Logoche, and with help from his mother and younger sister, Florencia, they had built their own palenque next to their home. The family continued to plant and distill in his absence, dividing the work amongst themselves. They began to make fewer field-blend ensambles and started to experiment more with single agave distillations, selecting from an expansive pool of both wild and cultivated plants. Drawing on family recipes, Heriberto contributes greatly to the work of his father’s productions while intermittently making small batches of his own.

Soil type: colorada, roja, cascajo, and negra

Oven: 10-ton capacity, conical, earthen oven

Mashing: Machete and mechanical mill

Fermentation: 6 Montezuma cypress wood tanks. 1000 - 1200 liter capacity.

Distillation: Cándido and Heriberto uses two different copper pot stills, each with a 300 liter capacity. Every batch is twice distilled and composed using the a select cut of común from the first distillation and the heads and heart of the second distillation.