Mezonte Agave Spirits

Mezonte is an NGO that promotes, supports and preserves -through various media- the production and practices of traditional agave spirits. Mezonte’s main objective is to create awareness of the cultural and biological value that these spirits represent. They feature agave spirits from all over Mexico, with an emphasis on Jalisco and Michoacán because they like to promote local production.

Mexico is the land of magueyes (agaves). Some 150 species have been identified in the country and at least 52 of them are used in the production of traditional distillates. Among the varieties of maguey we find Ixtero, Tepextate, Cenizo, Arroqueño, Alto, Papalote, Masparillo, Cimarrón and many more. This diversity, in addition to the methods and inputs used by each producer, result in a very wide range of distillates differentiated from each other. Depending on the region of Mexico, the traditional agave distillate is called mezcal, raicilla, bacanora, mezcal wine, pot wine, tuxca, tepe, etc. Mezonte works with producers from all over the country, although it concentrates its support and promotion activity in the states of Jalisco and Michoacán.