Lamparillo, 'Durango'

• Destilado de agave produced in Nombre de Dios, Durango, Mexico
• Maestro Destilador Manuel Simental
• 100% Lamparillo (Agave asperrima)
• Cooked in an underground conical earthen oven
• Milled by axe and mechanical grinder
• Fermented in sabino (cypress) wood-lined vats using spring water
• Distilled twice using a “viejo” still, a hybrid copper pot with a conical wooden chamber above and an external copper condensing arm
• Adjusted using heads and hearts
• Label and wax color may vary batch to batch
• 50.3% ABV (ABV may vary batch to batch)

Agave asperrima grows widely across the Northern states of Mexico, from Durango to Tamaulipas and beyond, even appearing in succulent gardens as far north as Nevada. Small in stature, the species is aesthetically attractive, with pale green leaves that are rough like sandpaper and shaped like wide, flat triangles; it’s almost like a baby Agave americana that’s been spending too much time indoors. Growing to be just a shade bigger than the famously diminutive Agave potatorum at maturity, the species also sports a discouragingly low sugar yield by weight (it can take as much as 40 kilos to produce one liter of mezcal) and so it’s quite uncommon to see it used in regular mezcal production. Working alongside his uncle Pepe—a local professor who is also quietly acknowledged as one of the finest mezcaleros in Nombre de Dios—Manuel has wrung tremendous, generous, even boisterous flavors from this difficult species.