Sotol, Cucharillo, 'Emanuel Ramos'

• Maestro Mezcalero Emanuel Ramos
• Produced in Miahuatlán, Oaxaca
• Distilled from 100% Cucharillo (Dasylirion)
• Cooked in a conical earthen oven using mesquite and encino oak
• Crushed using a traditional stone tahona mill
• Fermented in open air pine tanks (“tinas”)
• Distilled twice using copper pot stills with hybrid “refrescadera” condenser
• Wet slate, dried pepper, mint, citrus zest, milk chocolate, banana peel, dry hay
• 48.5% ABV

One of the first examples of Cucharilla (aka Sotol from Oaxaca) to reach the US.

Tasting Notes

Though commonly associated with Northern Mexico (particularly states like Sonora and Chihuahua), the practice of harvesting and distilling sotol has deep history all across the country (as well as the Southwestern United States). In Oaxaca, the sotol plant is referred to by a local name: cucharillo. Though it grows quite commonly all over the state, distillation of cucharillo is today rare, only practiced among maestros intent on preserving this heritage process.

Emanual Ramos is a young 5th generation mezcalero, widely praised for his brilliant mezcales, who works alongside his father, the acclaimed maestro mezcalero Victor Ramos. Besides producing some of the finest agave spirits on the commercial market, the work of the Ramos family is one of preservation: maintaining and protecting the biodiversity and historic distillation methods of Mengoli de Morelos, their tiny community in Miahuatlán, Oaxaca. 48.5% ABV