Del Maguey Cuixe Mezcal
Crafted on a hillside in Santa María Albarradas surrounded by fruit trees and rose bushes. Naturally fermented and twice distilled in a wood-fired copper still. Cuixe refers in Zapotec to the appearance of an unkempt profile, with dry leaves at the base of the heart that rise into very green pencas or leaves that look distinct to other species, such as espadin. It is a rare variety from the Rhodacantha agave family matures over 12 to 18 years in the mountain cool climate. Maestro Rogelio's signature creamy texture runs through the mid-palate.
Flavor Profile
Tasting
Hoja santa, fresh jalapeño, lilac, guava, lychee nut, minerality
Hoja santa and lilac with fresh green jalapeño
Guava and lychee nut with creamy mid-palate
Structured and mineral with plantain and long dry finish
Origin
Mountain Forest Central Valleys/Mixe Region
Santa Maria Albarradas
6500 ft
Mountain Clay
Cuixe (Agave karwinskii)
15 to 20 years
The Process
Rogelio Martínez Cruz, Aaron Salvador Martinez
Hand-cut from mountain slopes after 15 to 20 years
Earthen pits lined with volcanic rock
Molino milling · open wooden vats · wild fermentation
What defines this mezcal
ROGELIO’S QUIET WAY
Rogelio’s mezcal is calm. There’s an unassuming elegance to it, made in silence beside Esteban, who is deaf. The only sounds are the bubbling of fermentation and the grinding stone. A radio sits nearby, but they never turn it on.
The Mountain and Its Cloud Forest
Tucked in the highlands of Oaxaca’s Central Valleys, Santa María Albarradas is surrounded by mountains and Cloud Forest. The road that leads there winds endlessly uphill, through a village that feels suspended between the earth and the clouds.
ROGELIO’S CIRCLE OF CARE
At the center is Don Rogelio Martínez Cruz, now in his seventies. He never married and never had children, which is unusual to say the least. Yet he is somehow always surrounded by women: his two sisters, nieces, and friends, who cook for him, care for him, and keep the house running. He stands happy among this fierce circle of females. At the palenque, a small team of nephews and neighbors help with the production, mainly Esteban, a deaf man who was adopted by the family at a young age.
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