Alipús San Juan Mezcal

Los Danzantes was founded in 1997 by two restaurateurs from Mexico City. They purchased a small distillery in Santiago Matatlán in Oaxaca. The distillery was then refurnished and adapted to modern requirements without forsaking traditional methods of production.

Alipús was established in 1999 by Los Danzantes to provide a market for family artisan distilleries. Hector Vázquez and later, Karina Abad Rojas, worked closely with selected small producers, both to improve their distillation methods and to help them with the complex paperwork required to certify their mezcals for export.

Alipús is a social project that seeks to generate rural economy in Oaxaca through making and commercialising artisan Mezcal. These are Mezcales jóvenes (unaged), made by local farmers. Don Joel Antonio Cruz and his sons were the first Mezcal producers, in San Juan del Río. Today, production is managed by Joel’s younger cousin Rodolfo Juan Juarez.

Tasting Note: Fermented in oak vats & distilled by Don Joel Cruz from nonirrigated agave Espadín, grown in sunny mountain-top plantings in ferriferous soil at 4600 feet. Fruity, rich, smokey, pleasantly sweet.