In the heart of southern Mexico, the Arellanes family has been carefully handcrafting fine Oaxacan mezcal for eleven generations. We use only 100% mature highland maguey plants: varieties such as Espadín, Arroqueño, Largo, Tepeztate, Bicuishe, Tripón, Tobalá, and Barríl.

We grow the Espadín variety of agave americana for the lion’s share of our mezcal, but we also sustainably forage wild-growing varieties on our lands in and around Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca, such as Arroqueño, Largo, Tepeztate, Bicuishe, Tripón, Tobalá, and Barríl.

The plants, pollinated by bats, birds and butterflies, take their time building peak starch content that will convert to sugars when roasting, after their long growth cycle ranging from eight to fifteen years.

Wild-growing "silvestre" maguey varieties require arduous effort to harvest.

Maguey piñas are gathered prior to roasting.

Piñas are hand-split vertically to expose more of their interior to heat and smoke.

Maguey-roasting pits at the Destilería Real de Minas are lined with red-hot river rocks.

The pits are stoked with a mix of locally-grown mesquite and guamúchil wood.

Mature maguey hearts, known as “piñas” for their pineapple-like appearance, are are layered on, then covered with spent agave fiber called bagaso, to create an earthen oven that slowly smoke-roasts them for four days to get a fuller conversion of plant starches to fermentable sugars.

After cooking the maguey in underground roasting pits, the piñas are hand-cleaned to removing charring prior to fermentation, in order to create brighter, more delicious spirits that reflect careful craftsmanship.

The roasted maguey piñas are shredded and left to ferment in open-air wooden vats, where they’re graced with ambient wild yeasts that waft through the room. The sweet, bubbling mixture is stirred and tasted daily until it’s just right for distillation.

The Arrelanes family follows a process that hasn't changed much in eleven generations.

Handmade clay pots fashioned with bamboo downspouts have served the Arrelanes family well for eleven generations of making mezcal –why change?

Perched over a brick oven and insulated with spent maguey fibers, these rustic olla stills aren’t just practical and simple - they also contribute an earthy minerality to the flavor of our mezcal, known around Oaxaca as the “minero” style.