Federico Valentín Alva Ibáñez

Ensamble: Espadilla/Tobala

At 95 years old, Don Fede is the oldest producer (by far) featured in the club to date. This second generation mezcalero hails from San Nicolás Huajuapan, a small town about an hour and a half south of the city of Puebla. Don Fede began making mezcal at the age of 14 after his father, Leopoldo Alva, brought abandoned Spanish stills back to their village. At this time, there were less than 30 homes in San Nicolás Huajuapan, a single shared palenque, and a tradition that was only just beginning.  Today, you’ll find 10 palenques in the town with 8 of these producers being directly related to Don Fede. Ask any one of them and they’ll tell you they learned to make mezcal from the living legend himself.

Semei García Ramos

Arroqueño

Born and raised in Santa Maria la Pila, Miahuatlán, Semei grew up surrounded by great mezcal and great mezcal producers. Amongst them was his grandfather, legendary maestro Valente Ángel García Juárez. Semei began helping his grandfather as a young kid simply to have something to do. Over time, he developed a profound affection for the work they did together and the plants they cared for. Now 24 years old, Semei has gone from a novice learner to ambitious master producer managing his own team.

Noé García Olivera

Coyote

Our first featured producer from the Sola de Vega region of Oaxaca, Noé and his wife Florencia, along with two of their eleven children and four of their grandchildren, live and work together in San Juan Bautista, a small town of 250 people about 2.5 hours south of Oaxaca Centro. Noé’s home and palenque sit on a stunning piece of land which stretches across 15 acres, with 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains. His property sprinkled with gourds and seeds left out to dry, Noé and his family consider themselves farmers first and foremost, and mezcaleros second. They only produce about 3 – 4 batches of mezcal a year and they believe in doing things the artisanal way, using clay pots because, “it tastes better”.

Berta Vasquez

Mexicano

20 minutes past the famous clay-pot town of Santa Catarina Minas, you’ll find yourself in San Baltazar Chichicapam, home to independent mezcal producer Berta Vasquez. As a single mother, grandmother, and now great grandmother, Berta plays both a traditionally female and male role within her family. Berta’s story into making mezcal is both tragic and empowering, and the loss she experienced and hardship that followed are no secret.

Berta wears her heart on her sleeve and openly shares her painful past with friends and strangers alike, making it easy to feel close to her and quickly form a close bond. At 64 years old, she lives to tell the all-too-many stories of how she struggled as a woman in a man’s world, her outlook on life and on mezcal, and her vision for the future. Unsurprisingly, she shows no signs of stopping any time soon…

Julio Topete Becerra

Maximiliana / Lechugilla

Julio grew up in rural Jalisco in a small town called Rancho Nuevo, half-way between Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Despite his exposure to the craft of making raicilla since early childhood, Julio chose to venture to the US at age 19 for the economic opportunities it offered. Julio returned to Mexico after 15 years when he became deathly ill from a Thyroid disorder in 1999. Frustrated that his medication was not helping, he began drinking Raicilla. What began as self-medication eventually turned into a personal production and is now a full blown operation.

David Rivera Herrera

Papalometl

David lives with his parents and siblings in Santa María Ixcatlán, Oaxaca, located northwest of Oaxaca city in the Cañada region, close to the Mixteca border. A tight-knit family, they not only live together but also work together with cooperation and unity being the foundation of their personal and working relationships. Despite his being just 25 years old, David has become “the boss” with his parents and sisters while on the palenque where they continue the traditions of their ancestors crushing the agaves by hand and fermenting in cowhide. Carrying a “can-do” attitude with him both on and off the palenque, David is simultaneously young and bubbly, and also wise and insightful.

Edgar González Ramírez

Espadín Pechuga

Edgar González Ramírez is a first generation mezcalero who grew up in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca in San Cristóbal Lachirioag. He left his home town in 2001 to head to LA as so many others from Lachirioag had done before him. With NAFTA dismantling the economy of Lachirioag since 1994, and emigration rates at an all time high, Edgar joined forces with his cousin Elisandro to discuss ways in which they could support their town and people… Today, Edgar and Elisandro have a thriving business, Mezcal Tosba.

Felipe Cortés Venegas

Bicuixe

Felipe is a third generation mezcalero from Mengolí de Morelos, Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz, Oaxaca. His palenque sits two hours south of the city of Oaxaca. You’ll find him and his son, Ageo, working together on the palenque from January to June, and tending to the fields independently from July to December. A vast piece of land with stunning magueyes growing both cultivated and wild, Felipe and Ageo’s field sits right next to their home demonstrating just how integrated their lives are with those of the plants they care for.

Jaime Morales Aquino

Tobala

Jaime is from Villa Hidalgo Yalalag, which sits 3 hours northeast of Oaxaca Centro in the lush Sierra Norte of Oaxaca. His Zapotec roots and customs are what appear to navigate him through life, to have shaped his values, and to guide all his decisions. With both his fermentation and distillation executed in clay, Jaime makes small batches of about 40 liters just 3 – 4 times a year. When in season, he also makes a delicious destilado de mango and de ciruela (plum), just as his ancestors did with the surplus of fruit available to them in the mountains.

Gregorio “Don Goyo” Martínez García

Cuixe

Don Goyo is a highly respected, well known maestro within the Oaxaca mezcal community as well as in the United States. He’s been producing his own batches since 1997 and is a dependable mezcalero who prides himself on consistency. His palenque is located in San Baltazar Guelavila just a few hundred meters from where he was born.  The nearby fruit that grows on his property gives his mezcal a unique flavor, and he’ll humbly tell you that you must ask his clients if you want to know what makes him unique as a mezcalero.

Augustin Guendulain Maya

Velato

Agustin could be described as a mezcal scientist and agave botanist. His attention to the most minute process details and his vast knowledge of the biological differences between seemingly identical species is truly remarkable. He is the 5th generation of his family to make mezcal, but he doesn’t see his work as something he does simply because he inherited it. Agustin feels he was called to make mezcal. He is most fascinated with the maguey itself, which anyone who visits his palenque can attest to, and is profoundly fulfilled by working in the field. Wary of those who make mezcal purely for money, Agustin is proud to make all his mezcal with love, patience, and care.

Luis Enrique Juárez Ramírez

Tepextate

At only 28 years old, Luis is part of what some consider to be “the new generation” of mezcaleros who are deeply connected to their roots and the traditions they learned from the maestro generations before them, while simultaneously bringing a touch of modernity, innovation, and current issues to the mezcal world. Luis’s first mezcal sales, for example, were a result of unofficial tastings given to his friends at dental school. And his vision for the future, is to fight deforestation and the destruction of agaves and trees in Amatengo.

Antonio Carlos Martínez

Barril

Known locally as Conejo, this third generation mezcalero from Minas is the first in his family to own his own palenque. He has 14 varietals in his tasting room, one of which is the 46.8% Barril featured in our club. Only 80 liters were produced in this batch.

Félix Ángeles Arellanes

Tobaziche

Felix’s Tobaziche was distilled in clay pots in the town of Minas. Only 160 liters were produced in this batch which came out at 45% alc/vol. Of the roughly 150 batches Felix has made in his life, about 30 batches have been Tobaziche, one of his personal favorites. Two of his six sons helped him produce this batch back in June 2018.