Del Maguey Las Milpas Mezcal
Perched high on the edge between the Oaxacan Central Valleys and the Sierra Sur the Cruz Antonio family roast Espadín agave in an earthen oven etched into the granite rock hillside in a remote Zapotec village named Las Milpas. The house and palenque are surrounded by cornfields, agave plantations and oak forests, where tepeztate, tobala, and mexicano agaves grow wild. For Del Maguey, Anastasio and sons, Rigoberto, Abel and Pedro, and grandson Juan Uriel mill with horse and stone, wild yeast fermentation and double distilled in small copper stills. When Ron Cooper met Anastasio he said he did not even have to try the mezcal to know it would be special because the maker himself was so authentic.
Flavor Profile
Tasting
Tropical fruit, citrus, sweet corn, lavender, pea shoots, rose petal, slate mineral
Lavender and rose petal with tropical fruit and altitude herbs
Sweet corn and tropical fruit with remarkable floral complexity
Long and pleasantly dry with granite minerality
Origin
High-altitude Granite Hillside Central Valleys
Las Milpas
7100 ft
Granite
Espadín (Agave angustifolia Haw.)
6 to 8 years
The Process
Anastasio Luis Antonio, Rigoberto Luis, Abel Luis, Pedro Luis
Hand-cut from granite hillside soils at 7100 ft after 6 to 8 years
Earthen pits carved into granite rock hillside
Mechanical milling · open wooden vats · wild fermentation
What defines this mezcal
LAS MILPAS MEZCAL: AS PURE AS THE AIR ITSELF
Don Anastasio’s concern is simply to make the best mezcal possible. From his many espadín fields, he chooses what is ripest and closest to the palenque: a natural act of sustainability, practicality and wisdom, yielding mezcales that are both complex and delicious. His mezcal tastes as the air smells: pure, fresh, clear, and mellow.
A Village That Fits in Memory
Las Milpas is a small rural village: so small one could call it a rancho, in the municipality of San Dionisio Ocotepec, in Oaxaca’s Central Valleys. About 100 people live here, at an elevation of 1,695 meters. The community speaks almost exclusively Zapotec and lives self-sufficiently from the land.
Where Work and Laughter Flow Together
Las Milpas is pure. It feels less serious than other villages. The family laughs and tells stories in Zapotec and Spanish, while never forgetting to check on the mezcal production, as if the cycle lived within their bodies. Each man knows what to do, when to check the yegua, the distillation, and the fire, and they do it smiling, in between sharing stories of rain or of weddings.
Awards & recognition
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2026
San Francisco World Spirits Competition Silver
-
2026
Tequila and Mezcal Masters Gold
-
2026
International Spirits Challenge Gold
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