Edenico

Arnaud Fressonnet primarily grew up in Burgundy, France, surrounded by a regional legacy of great wine and eau-de-vie; however, Arnaud came of age in Mexico. Upon completing school, he drew upon his heritage by diving into the burgeoning Mexican wine industry.

Years later, Arnaud shifted his focus to traditional distillates of Mexico, involving himself in artisanal rum and mezcal production in Oaxaca. The rural farming communities of Oaxaca inspired Arnaud, recalling memories of his first home, and a desire took root to explore the distillation of other crops among Oaxaca’s generous bounty.

The plentiful fruits of southern Mexico reminded him of the eaux-de-vie he’d known in his youth. There is a long (but barely documented) history in Oaxaca of distilling local fruits—such as mango and plum—and a handful of maestro mezcaleros in regions like Zoquitlán and the Sierra Norte’s Villa Alta have achieved neighborhood notoriety for their fruit distillates, but such work is typically little more than a side-hustle compared to distilling agave.

Arnaud determined to take a different approach with his own Oaxacan fruit brandies, creating a marriage between the European tradition he grew up with and the place he now calls home. In partnership with fifth-generation maestro destiladors Rommel and Alex Krassel, he created Tostaky Spirits in 2016, and began to achieve his cross-cultural dream with their Oaxacan eaux-de-vie label, Edénico.

All fruits are harvested by hand within a 50 km radius of their Sierra Norte distillery. Seeds and skins are removed from the fruits which are then mashed & mixed with spring water and Champagne yeast to ferment in closed-top, stainless steel vats for 10–12 days. The volume required to make a batch varies by fruit, but most productions clock in around 10 kilos per liter. The spirits are distilled twice in small copper alembic pot stills, then rested for a full year in glass demijohns before they are bottled at 42% ABV.