Ensamble Americana 2020 | Hugo García | Summer 2020 Release | ENNHGO2002 | 48 Bottles
Available through PM Spirits
A young man, Hugo García has learned the techniques of cultivation and distillation of agave from his mother, brothers, uncles, and cousins. In recent years, Hugo has been palenqueando with his cousins, Ramón and Wilfredo, who have all dedicated themselves to the craft and the community, seeking to develop a secure future for Logoche and their own families. In preparing this Ensamble of three different cultivated Agave americana magueys, Hugo selected four piñas en guía of Rayo, six Sierrudo, and seven Azulín from a white and red, rocky soil family parcel for harvest in January 2020. The freshly harvested maguey was rested for over a week before cooking for eight-days in a mesquite wood-fired earthen pit. Hugo allowed the maguey to cool and rest for another eight days before chopping down the cooked chunks and passing them through a shredder. The fibers were placed into a Montezuma cypress wood tank and sat for 48 hours before 600L of well water was added to the vat. Fermentation continued for another 5 days before the contents were ready for distillation. Hugo and family are saving the majority of their largest and remaining mother plants for seed and bulbil clone reproduction, so it could be quite a long time before another similar batch is made. Using only enough maguey to fill one sabino wood fermentation tank, Hugo composed a total of 40 liters of this batch, adjusting the alcohol level with the puntas and lower proof común from the second round of distillation in a 250L capacity copper pot still.