Reviews / Mezcal from Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca

Mezcal from Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca

Santa Catarina Minas is the clay-pot capital of mezcal. The village's olla de barro distillation tradition – direct-fired clay pots, no copper anywhere in the still – is the defining production choice for Real Minero, Lalocura, Del Maguey Minero, and Del Maguey Iberico. Minas-style mezcal is heavier, more textured, and more savory than anything made in copper; the clay extracts a register copper cannot. If you want to understand what 'ancestral' tastes like, this is the village's vocabulary. For a clay-still introduction, Real Minero's barril is reference.