Paula Aquino Sánchez

Paula Aquino Sánchez has been an essential part of NETA since its inception. Born in 1971 in Logoche, some of Paula’s earliest memories are of watching her father carry magueyes from the field to their family palenque before his death when she was only 6 years old.  Her mother Elvira was also left without a father at a young age, so it was her grandfather who taught her each step of the process of mezcal production. As member of the fourth generation of the two founding mezcal producing families of Logoche, Paula has a deep understanding of the craft from farming to distillation.

During production season in Logoche, one inevitably finds Paula engaged in some activity; harvesting maguey from her land, carrying guarape in buckets from the sabino tinas to fill the alambiques, or tending the fire during the distillations on the palenque located next to her house. Beyond her prowess as a farmer and maestra palenquera, Paula is an incredible cook and often participates in the preparation of meals for community celebrations. Like Paula, women in Logoche have always played a central and ever-evolving role in the culture and economy of mezcal.

Soil type: colorada, roja, cascajo, and negra

Oven: 7-ton capacity, conical, earthen oven

Mashing: Machete and shredder

Fermentation: 5 Montezuma cypress wood tanks. 1000 - 1200 liter capacity.

Distillation: Paula and Hermógenes use one 250-liter capacity copper pot still, as well as a second 300-liter copper pot still. All of the family’s batches are double-distilled and are mixed down and composed using the heads (puntas), heart (cuerpo or corazón), and a select cut of común (also known as shishe or ordinario) from the first round of distillation.