Animas Joven

Artisanal distillation of fully mature agaves, focused on the rare wild agave cupreata, known as papalometl. Very few distillers source their cupreata in Oaxaca: it’s usually found further north. Eber Villalobos has been in the mezcal trade for 11 years, and is using his knowledge to produce a genuinely excellent mezcal – no bells & whistles, just the real thing. Eber has worked in Silacoyoapam, up north in the mountainous Mizteca, where he sources his wild papalometl (agave cupreata), but has moved to a notably well-run distillery in Santiago Matatlan operated by Procoro Bautista. Meticulous tends to mean great product: doing everything exactly right. Textbook mezcal.