Mezcal, Tobala, 'Don Cheto'

• Mezcal produced in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca
• Maestro Mezcalero Jose Santiago López
• 100% Tobalá (A. potatorum)
• Cooked in a conical earthen oven
• Crushed using a traditional stone tahona mill
• Fermented in open air wooden tanks (tinas)
• Distilled twice using wood-fired copper pot stills
• Sculpture clay, strawberry hard candy, black pepper, yellow flowers, garden peas, toffee, frosted flakes, a whiff of old leather boots
• 49% ABV (ABV may vary batch to batch)

Jose Santiago López, aka Don Cheto, is a third-generation mezcalero from the “Cuna (Cradle) of Mezcal” in Oaxaca, Santiago Matatlán. Though he is particularly sought after for his Jabalí, he produces a range of wild, semi-cultivated, and cultivated agave—which is unusually diverse for his region—at his Palenque, as well as a collection of highly creative destilados con sabor (destilados flavored with additional ingredients). The distinct profile of his mezcales stand tall, in sharp contrast to much of the increasingly homogenized output of Santiago Matatlán, with his trademark enthusiasm seeming to burst forth from the sweet, peppery, floral spirits he produces. This is a wild and idiosyncratic Tobalá, from a wild and idiosyncratic mezcalero.