Cuentacuentos Tobala Ancestral Mezcal Angel Cruz Robles (750ml / 47.5%)

Maguey tobala (Agave potatorum) grows wildly at high altitudes, and its relatively minuscule size yields extremely limited quantities of intensely aromatic mezcal. Due to its tiny size and long growing period (12-15 years), Maguey tobalá is becoming increasingly rare in some regions. Unlike most other maguey, tobala does not produce hijuelos, which are the shoots or pups that sprout around the main plant once it has matured. For this reason, tobala can only grow from seed.

Towns like Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca have two different types of Maguey tobala: tobala chino which grows in the sun, and tobala orejon which grows in the shade. This difference in sunlight is amplified over the 12-15 years it takes for the plants to reach maturity, and the two different types of tobala have a noticeably different character and taste. Some mezcaleros, like Tio Rey (Mezcal Vago) in Sola de Vega, have been successfully cultivating Maguey tobala for years.

Cuentacuentos curates small-batch traditional mezcals and destilados de agave from producers across the state of Oaxaca. Cuentacuentos released its first 6 mezcal expressions in 2018; future releases from the brand will change over time and include non-certified mezcals. The logo and bottle artwork (by artist Cesar Ruiz Conseco) features an opossum or tlacuache in Spanish. The tlacuache on the logo is El Viejito, the little old man opposum who stole mezcal from the demons as a service to humanity. The tlacuache ranks with the jaguar, eagle, and burro in importance in Zapotec, Taina, and Mexican mythologies. Cuentacuentos is bottled under NOM-O20X by Carlos Méndez Blas. The Cuentacuentos motto is Mezcal brings people together, stories make us friends.

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Production Notes

• Maguey: Tobala (Seemanniana)
• State: Oaxaca
• Region: Sola de Vega
• Cooking: Traditional earthen oven pit
• Milling: Mallet and canoe
• Fermented: Natural yeast - 5 days
• Still Type: Clay pot
• Classification: Artisanal
• ABV of Mezcal: 47.5%