Maximiliana 375 mL – Julio

"If mezcal is the king, raicilla is the queen."

That's the old saying in the Sierra Occidental of Jalisco, where raicilla has been distilled for over 400 years — originally under a different name, adopted specifically to dodge a Spanish colonial tax on mezcal. Legally and culturally distinct from mezcal to this day, raicilla remains one of Mexico's most overlooked agave spirit traditions, made almost entirely by small family operations in the mountains between Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta.

A Craft Found, Lost, and Found Again

Julio Topete Becerra grew up in Rancho Nuevo watching his father and grandfather distill raicilla in a single wooden still. At 19, he left for the United States, chasing the same economic opportunity that's pulled generations of Mexican families north. Fifteen years later, he returned home gravely ill with a thyroid disorder. When his medication wasn't helping, he began drinking raicilla — what started as self-medication eventually turned into a full return to the family craft, and today Julio runs La Taberna de la Reina alongside his wife Silvia and their sons.

A Still Carved From a Tree

This Maximiliana is made from wild-harvested Agave maximiliana, roasted in a standing adobe oven — a method more common to Jalisco than the underground pits used in Oaxaca — then hand-crushed with wooden mallets in a canoe carved from a single hollowed-out tree trunk. That same hollowed trunk forms part of the traditional Filipino-style still used for distillation, a method almost unique to this corner of the Sierra.

What to Expect in the Glass

Subtle and mineral at first, opening into ripe cantaloupe, banana, and a distinct aromatic woodiness reminiscent of a cured jícara gourd. The palate is full and sweet, with genuine complexity that reveals itself more with each sip — several tasters have noted it's a raicilla that rewards a second glass more than the first.

Why This Bottle Matters

Raicilla is still one of the least-known agave spirits outside Mexico, made using methods — like distillation through a literal hollowed tree — that have all but disappeared elsewhere. This bottle is both a taste of Jalisco's own agave tradition, and the story of a man who found his way back to it.

Give it a second glass — this one opens up with time and attention.