Destilado de Agave Cupreata 'Refugio Calzada'

• Destilado de Agave produced in Tetitlán de la Lima, Guerrero
• Maestro Mezcalero Refugio Calzada Hernández
• 100% Papalote (A. cupreata)
• Cooked in a rock-lined conical earthen oven with Encino amarillo, white oak, and tepehuaje (leadtree); milled using a small mechanical shredder
• Fermented 4 days in white pine (ayacahuite) tanks with spring water
• Distilled twice in traditional copper pot stills
• Rested 2 years in glass before bottling
• Rich with earthy aromas of wet black tea leaves, damp earth, fresh wool, beeswax, and barnyard hay—all lifted by delicate notes of yellow flowers, black sesame, peppercorn, and soft linen. Savory and complex.
• 351 liters produced
• 46.9% ABV

A third-generation mezcalero, Don Refugio Calzada Hernández began working with mezcal at the tender age of 14, helping to gather seeds and cultivate agave. Now a sturdy 68-year-old maestro himself, Don Refugio’s mezcal is full of earthy notes of herbs and barnyard, a heartwarming welcome to the complexity of Agave cupreata in Guerrero.

Tasting Notes

A third-generation mezcalero, Don Refugio Calzada Hernández began working with mezcal at the tender age of 14, helping to gather seeds to grow the family’s abundant agave. In interviews, he has recalled his childhood anxiety around the plants, afraid of their intimidating size, sharp spines, and the notorious rash caused by touching the sap with bare skin during harvest.

Now a sturdy 68-year-old maestro himself, Don Refugio cultivates Papalote (A. cupreata) and Zacatoro (A. angustifolia) on 25 hectares of farmland. Working alongside three of his sons, each year he plants 1–2 times the maguey he harvests while simultaneously managing the growth and reforestation of the surrounding woodland, always with one eye to the future of the land.

Don Refugio’s cupreata is quite generous: full of the bucolic spirit of misty mountain forests and old country barnyards, it’s an ideal welcome to the complexity of Guerrero’s favorite species. It also serves as the backbone for his pechuga variations, which are beloved in his local community—one featuring chicken breast, almond, raisin, and spices, and another with chumilin (a small insect similar to a stink bug, which imparts a distinctive cinnamon/quassia bark profile).