Rancho 3 Carnales: Ramón and Wilfrido García Sánchez, Hugo García, Primitivo Vásquez

This team of two brothers (Ramón and Wilfrido), their brother-in-law (Primitivo), and their cousin (Hugo) represent a new generation of palenqueros paving their own lane and building a future for themselves, their families, and their community at large in the world of agave cultivation and distillation. All four men descend from multiple generations of magueyeros and palenqueros and uphold these legacies with great pride.

With the price of agave soaring beyond previously imaginable levels and the burgeoning “outside” interest in agave spirts, much has changed in the last decade. For the first time, it seems possible to maintain a rural lifestyle and land-based culture while simultaneously engaging in and benefiting from new commercial opportunities in often distant markets. The generation of income and infrastructures through the production and sale of small-batch spirits has started to create greater social, cultural, and economic equity for many villages in Oaxaca; along with others in Logoche, Ramón, Wilfrido, Hugo, and Primitivo are determined to continue to realize this potential through perseverance, despite the many challenges and obstacles that exist.

In farming and ranching communities throughout rural Mexico, migration is often a uniting theme in the lives of those who were born in the 80’s and 90’s. Opportunities were scant, and people did what they needed to do in order to support their families. Many of the young men of Logoche left to search for work in other Mexican cities or further north to the United States. While some remained in the U.S. and send remittances back as regularly as possible, after several years abroad, Ramón, Wilfrido, Hugo, and Primitivo, returned to their ranchos and now find themselves in a position to build a different future in their community.

All four men lost their fathers in their youth, and as teenagers, sought out new opportunities in Los Cabos, Baja California and in the southern United States before returning to Logoche. Ramón García Sanchez, was born in 1987, and vividly remembers making his first batch of mezcal - pure Bicuixe - after finishing middle school in 2000, under the watchful eyes of his father, Constantino, and grandfather, Don Nicolás. His brother Wilfrido, aka Wili, was born in 1989, and also stepped into their grandfather’s palenque as a teenager to make his first batch in 2004. Risking everything, the two left shortly after accompanying Elvia, their older sister. They saved money from their time working in chicken processing plants and other gigs in the South, and boys returned home as young men ready to work the agave that their mother, Margarita, had been planting in their absence. Waiting for them, as well, were participatory rolls in the cooperative Grupo Logoche, founded in 2008 by their mother, uncles, and neighbors.

Today, all four maestros work out of a palenque built by the illustrious and now retired Margarita Sánchez, mother of Ramón and Wilfrido. Some batches are made independently while others are the result of combined efforts between the family members. As with all productions in Logoche, the horneada, or the cooking of the agave is a communal affair in which help from all available hands is received and reciprocated. A hearty meal always follows. Doña Margarita hospitality is truly unmatched, and it has been a privilege to learn from her and each of these four palenqueros over the years.

Amongst the four, they cultivate nearly every type of maguey under the Logoche sun through both clone and seed, working nearly exclusively with micro-endemic species that they grow in a mix of different soil types. Annually, the group makes less than 2,000 liters of mostly Espadín and Agave karwinskii varieties, but have begun to experiment with the occasional Jabalín and Cucharillo (Dasylirion sp).

Soil types: colorada, roja, cascajudo, blanca, negra

Oven: 10-ton capacity, conical, earthen oven

Mashing: machete, axe, and shredder

Fermentation: 4 Montezuma cypress sabino wood tanks. 1200-liter capacity.

Distillation: Los Carnales use two different copper pot stills, one with a 250-liter capacity, and the other, slightly larger at 300 liters.