Coyote, Tobalá, Pulquero | Hugo García Maldonado | Sesptember 2025 | ENNHGO2509 | 47.2% ALC | 36 Bottles | Madre!

This exceptional batch from the young palenquero Hugo García Maldonado was produced from three distinct cultivated agaves endemic to the region. In many ways, its composition reflects the ongoing evolution of both agave cultivation and distillation practices among magueyeros and palenqueros throughout Miahuatlán. For this 80 L production, Hugo co-fermented twenty homegrown piñas of Tobalá and Coyote together with five cocos of Pulquero—hearts from Pulquero plants that had already been tapped for aguamiel production in the neighboring community of Xitlapehua.

Pulquero agaves have supported the production, consumption, and sale of pulque—the oldest known fermented beverage in the Americas—for millennia, yet they only entered the repertoire of palenqueros in Logoche in 2016. Likewise, until around that same time, Tobalá and Coyote were produced almost exclusively from wild maguey harvested on family land or purchased from magueyeros in neighboring communities.

As producers in Logoche began sharing techniques for seed propagation and bulbil cloning, cultivation of these previously wild agaves expanded rapidly. Today, maturation times have been reduced from roughly 12–15 years to 6–8 years. Just as importantly, cultivating Tobalá and Coyote alongside the traditional milpa system of corn, squash, and beans helps reduce pressure on wild populations while maintaining greater ecological diversity across the landscape.

The Valley of Miahuatlán is home to numerous forms of Agave americana collectively known as Pulquero or maguey de pulque. Although the introduction of bottled beer in the mid-twentieth century led to the gradual decline of pulque production throughout much of the valley, healthy populations remain in Xitlapehua and in the Zapotec-speaking communities farther east along the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur.

Because living Pulquero plants command a high price as a source of aguamiel, they are rarely purchased for distillation. However, once a plant has been exhausted through repeated harvesting of its nectar, the remaining coco still contains fermentable sugars and can often be acquired at a fraction of the cost. These spent agaves have become an important source of raw material for a small but growing number of producers in the region.

After careful processing, Hugo composed an aromatic ensamble that expresses the character of all three agaves, settling on a cordón cerrado corresponding to 47.2% ABV. Twenty liters were shipped to Hugo's older brother in Baja California for his own use, while the remaining 60L were divided between NETA and our friends at Madre!, where these 36 bottles are available as a limited release for purchase online.

·       Maguey(es): Coyote (Agave lyobaa), Tobalá (Agave potatorum × Agave seemanniana), Pulquero

·       Provenance of the maguey: Homegrown Coyote and Tobalá from the La Mina parcel; Pulquero sourced from Xitlapehua

·       Producer: Hugo García Maldonado

·       Region: Logoche, San Luis Amatlán, Miahuatlán

·       Soil type: La Mina parcel, Logoche—red, rocky tierra colorada; Xitlapehua—white tierra blanca

·       Rest time after harvest: 10–15 days

·       Oven: Conical earthen oven; roasted for nine days with mesquite and oak

·       Rest time after roasting: 48 hours

·       Maceration: Machete and shredder

·       Fermentation: Native yeasts; two 1,200 L Montezuma cypress (sabino) tanks containing approximately 600 kg of cooked agave and 600 L of well water

·       Dry fermentation: 24 hours

·       Wet fermentation: 12 days

·       Distillation: Twice distilled in a copper pot still

·       Final composition: Heads, hearts, and tails

·       Batch size: 80 L

·       Date of distillation: September 2025

·       ABV: 47.2%