Traditional mezcal forms an important part of rituals, ceremonies, and festivities—known as jolgorios—in the rural and indigenous Zapotec villages of Oaxaca, Mexico.  Created by the Cortés family, considered by many to be mezcal royalty, El Jolgorio is widely acknowledged as one of the finest collections of agave spirits available. 

All the mezcales are traditionally cooked in earthen ovens, milled, and finally open-air fermented in wooden vats (tinas) before being distilled using traditional copper pot stills. On every bottle is inscribed the species of agave, the year and age of harvest, the village of production, the name of the Maestro Mezcalero, the batch number, and number of bottles produced, truly connecting the drinker with the land, people, and plants at the heart and soul of this mezcal.

All around the mountains and valleys of Oaxaca, Rolando Cortés and his family collaborate with like-minded maestro mezcaleros who approach their work with a shared philosophy of respect for land and tradition. From batch to batch, an individual variety of agave will generally be sourced from different mezcaleros and in different regions—reducing the pressure put upon any one community’s agave population and spreading the financial benefits among families all over Oaxaca—but the unmatched quality of El Jolgorio mezcales remains the same

• Mezcal produced in Lachigui, Miahuatlán, Oaxaca
• Maestro Mezcalero “Tio” Pedro Vasquez
• 100% Arroqueño (Agave americana subs. oaxacensis)
• Practicing organic agriculture
• Cooked in a conical earthen pit oven
• Milled using a small mechanical grinder and by hand using ax and wooden mallet
• Naturally fermented in open-air wooden tanks (tinas)
• Distilled using a hybrid copper still with external condenser (refrescadera)
• 49% ABV (ABV may vary batch to batch)