Tripón with Quiote de Tobalá | February 2025 | Tomás García Cruz | ENNTGC2502 | Fall 2025 release | Tesuque Village Market
ENNTGC2502 | TRIPÓN WITH QUIOTE DE TOBALÁ | TOMÁS GARCÍA CRUZ | FEBRUARY 2025 | 24 BOTTLES | 45.2% ALC | TESUQUE VILLAGE MARKET
A few years back, Don Tomás García Cruz acquired two “small” specimens of a type of Agave karwinskii he had never seen before. Although they came from just a few kilometers away—in the village where his wife was born—these agaves were novel and sparked great curiosity. The family that has cultivated them for generations in Santa Cruz refers to the variety as Trípon, a nod to their girthy, “pot-bellied” appearance. Don Tomás had hoped to bring back a large mother plant to propagate in his front yard but had to settle for the two that could fit in the bed of his Ford F-150. One plant was reluctant to produce bulbils, yielding only a handful about a year after transplanting. The second refused to flower, and after nearly three years of waiting—and fearing it might succumb to disease—Don Tomás decided to harvest and roast the maguey.
In recent years, the family has been experimenting with fermenting and distilling the quiote, using up to a meter of the base of the flowering stalk. While this part of the plant was traditionally roasted and mixed with cornmeal for tostadas—or repurposed as animal fodder, compost, or firewood—it delivers a rich, deeply “mature” agave flavor that pairs beautifully with the piña, or heart of the plant. Don Tomás took advantage of this by blending the two.
The single 200 kg piña of Trípon was macerated and co-fermented with about 100 kg of flowering stalks from 15 cultivated Tobalá plants, which had been left in the field to mature in their capón state. Distilled in February 2022, Don Tomás composed 21 liters of this unique spirit, achieving a cordón cerrado corresponding to 45.2% ABV. The batch was selected as an exclusive bottling for our dear friends at Tesuque Village Market in New Mexico. Only 24 bottles are in existence.
§ Maguey(es): Tripon (A. karwinskii var.) and Quiote de Tobalá cultivado (A. potatorum x A. seemanniana)
§ Provenance of the maguey: Homegrown
§ Producer: Tomás García Cruz
§ Region: Logoche, Miahuatlán
§ Soil type: White and rocky tierra blanquisca con piedra
§ Rest time after harvest: Three days
§ Oven: Conical earthen pit; four days with mesquite wood
§ Rest time after oven: Three days
§ Maceration: Machete and shredder
§ Fermentation: Native yeasts; 1200L Montezuma cypress sabino wood tank with approx. 250kg of cooked maguey
§ Dry fermentation time: Eight days
§ Wet fermentation time: Eight days
§ Distillation: 2x in copper pot stills
§ Final composition: Heads, hearts, and tails
§ Batch size: 21 liters
§ Date of distillation: February 2025
§ ABV: 45.2%