Tobala 375 mL – Ruben Lopez Diego

In Santa Catarina Albarradas, mezcal isn't made — it's inherited.

High in Oaxaca's Sierra Norte, the small, remote Zapotec community of Santa Catarina Albarradas is internationally recognized for one thing above all: keeping clay pot distillation alive when nearly everywhere else has moved to copper. Rubén López Diego is one of the maestros carrying that tradition forward, known for meticulous, small-batch work with the region's wild agaves — his skill with the equally demanding Sierra Negra varietal has already earned him recognition among serious collectors.

Wild Tobalá, Traditional Clay

Tobalá is one of mezcal's most prized wild agaves — small, slow-growing, and traditionally found in the shade of oak trees at high elevation. Rubén roasts the harvested piñas in an underground earthen oven, hand-crushes them with mallets, ferments the mash naturally, and distills the spirit not in copper, but in small clay pots — a method that predates copper distillation in Mexico and gives the final spirit a distinctly rounder, earthier character.

What to Expect in the Glass

Clay-distilled Tobalá from this region tends toward a rich, complex profile — expect cooked agave sweetness, clay and wood notes, and fruit-forward complexity, all wrapped in the mineral roundness unique to clay pot distillation. It's a genuinely different drinking experience from copper-distilled Tobalá elsewhere in Oaxaca.

Why This Bottle Matters

Santa Catarina Albarradas represents one of the last true strongholds of clay pot mezcal-making, passed down through generations of Zapotec mezcaleros. A Tobalá from a producer like Rubén is both a rare agave and a rare technique, together in a single bottle.

Pair it with our Cucharillo from the same village for a fascinating look at two agaves, one clay tradition.