Tio Pedro first began working at palenques in his hometown of Santa Catarina Minas when he was twenty years old – over 50 years ago. At the ripe young age of 62, Pedro was able to finally build his own small distillery, La Esperanza. His small underground oven can fit about three tons of agave, although he often roasts much less.
He maintains the centuries-old tradition of Santa Catarina Minas, using clay pot stills made in Santa María Atzompa. The clay pots lend a fuller body and mineral texture to his spirits, which oftentimes possess a distinct ripe banana sweetness and notes of cocoa powder and honey. Tio Pedro’s nephew Lalo and his extended family help him throughout this ancestral production method.
Arroqueño, known to take up to two decades to fully mature, is sourced from deep in the hills of Sola de Vega for Tio Pedro's mezcal.
Roasted for five days with encino oak firewood, friends and neighbors then took turns at mashing the cooked agave with large wooden mallets. The resulting mash then ferments for ten days in pine tanks before distillation in clay pot stills and adjustment with heads, hearts, and tails.
The nose is rich with banana, cream cheese, and sweet potato. The clay-influenced palate is rich with strawberry shortcake, blueberry,
