Ensamble Barril + Mexicano | November 2020 | Hermógenes García Vásquez and Jorge Aquino Vásquez | ENSHJV2011 | Summer 2021 Release | 522 Bottles

While most productions from Logoche are crafted with homegrown or local maguey, Hermógenes and his youngest son, Jorge (17), recently decided to experiment with agave types new to them. Through their magueyero network, they obtained a mix of wild maguey harvested from hillsides where the Central Valleys and Mixteca regions converge. The father-and-son team worked with nearly equal parts of Barril (Agave karwinskii var.) and Mexicanito (Agave rhodacantha var.), composing approximately 480L in early November 2020, shortly after the Día de Muertos celebrations had passed. The colder weather and proximity to the rainy season generally dictates lower yields than the productions from the hot and dry month of late Spring, but there is something to be said for the flavors and aromas that reveal themselves under these different conditions of Autumn and Winter.

While the San Luis Amatlán region has a tremendous amount of different Agave karwinskii varieties, this particular Barril is not endemic to the area. The agave known locally as Barril, is definitively not an A. karwinskii type but rather a type of A. angustifolia. Likewise, A. rhodacantha is present throughout Miahuatlán, but this specific expression of Mexicanito is native to parts of the Central Valleys and of the Mixteca.

  • Maguey(es): Barril (Agave karwinskii var.) + Mexicanito (Agave rhodacantha var.)

  • Provenance of the maguey: Valles Centrales

  • Producer: Hermógenes and Jorge Vásquez

  • Region: Miahuatlán, Oaxaca

  • Soil type: Mix of red and white earth

  • Rest time after harvest: Two weeks

  • Oven: Conical earthen pit; Six days with mesquite wood

  • Rest time after oven: 10 days

  • Maceration: Machete and mill

  • Fermentation: 1200L Montezuma cypress sabino tanks

  • Dry fermentation time: 48 hours

  • Wet fermentation time: 10 days

  • Distillation: 2x in copper pot stills

  • Final composition: Head, hearts, and tails

  • Batch size: 460L

  • Date of distillation: November 2020

  • ABV: 47.5%

MARIE NAKAZAWA