Simitrio Aquino García

Descendant of two of the most historically important producing families in the region, SimitrioAquino García wasborn in Logoche in 1986 to Cutberto Aquino Gutierrez and María García Cruz. As a child, Simitrio assisted in the plantings and harvest of maguey and food crops, and as a shepherd, helping to tend to the family’s livestock until entering the palenque under his father’s tutelage at age 16. For three years, he worked alongside his parents and brothers learning process and the family’s methods of fermentation and distillation.By the mid 2000 ́s, agave and mezcal prices around Oaxaca had plummeted, spurring many young men and women to seek economic opportunity in the cities of Mexico or across the border in the United States. Simitrio left Logoche at age 19 and spent four years in the South as a metal worker and painter, in proximity to many others from his community whom at also migrated at this time. Today, Simitrio works alongside his father and brother, Gilberto, and sister, Florencia, at the family palenque. On his own accord, he distills around 200-300 liters a year from a mix of homegrown and wild harvested maguey, crafting both ensambles and single varietal expressions. In recent years, he has taken up a particular fondness in working Cucharillo, a relatively low yielding local Dasylirion species. Simitrio enjoys the fruits of his own labor, and confidently recognizes the superior quality of what they and their neighbors produce in Logoche. However, he is most proud of his participation in the maintenance and continuity of a family tradition, and his contributions to an effort in creating a long lasting and impactful local economy that revolves around this legacy.