Destilado de Agave, 'Salmiana - Tlaxcala'

• Destilado de agave produced at Hacienda San Cristóbal in San Felipe Sultepec, Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico
• Maestro Tlachiquero Alejandro Sánchez Islas
• Distilled from Pulquero, Blanco, Púa Larga, Chalqueño, and Cenizo agaves (100% Agave salmiana)
• Agave is extracted as aguamiel (sap, or “honey water”) 
• Fermented in ceramic tanks 
• Distilled first in stainless steel pot stills, then a second time in traditional copper pots 
• 55% ABV

The Sánchez family have worked, as respected tlachiqueros, since the turn of the 20th century, enduring the violence of the Revolution by hiding in the mountain forests outside the Hacienda. They survived the rest of the century as subsistence farmers, raising agave, corn, beans, squash, chickens, and tea. From a young age, the children learned to collect aguamiel from the agave, rising to leave the house by 4 a.m., each leading a pair of donkeys to carry around 200 liters in the morning, and another 150 or so in the late afternoon. The family sold pulque by the side of the road, and subsequently began selling agave leaves (pencas) and barbacoa as well—not only sustaining the family, but eventually supporting the children’s education in Texcoco and Mexico City.

Alejandro’s father, of the same name, eventually turned that education into a career managing larger pulque haciendas in Tlaxcala—most notably Hacienda San Blas, where he grew production to 3,000 liters per day (produced along side corn, barley, wheat, oats, and more). As pulque prices plummeted, spurred by competition from the growing Mexican beer industry and subsequent cost-cutting measures that impacted category quality, the family pivoted by reducing their pulque production to distill instead, producing a shelf-stable product of higher value. They also continue to produce syrup directly from the harvested aguamiel. A mechanical engineer by degree, Alejandro now operates a small destilado label of his own, Mezotera, as well as producing this higher-ABV, concentrated example in collaboration with Pal’alma.