Some batches are just a date on a calendar. This one was a homecoming.
The year the dead came home
The 2022 Día de los Muertos was the first after three years of lockdown — the first time Oaxaca could gather, build its altars, and welcome its dead back without restraint. The air over Santiago Matatlán was thick with marigolds, cock's-comb flowers, food on the fire, and copal smoke. We made a mezcal to hold that moment.
Our maestro mezcalero, Tomás Mendéz, began the harvest on the morning of October 25th, cutting roughly 150 espadín agave by hand in the fields of Benito Ruiz and his son — early, before the heat. Enough for one thousand litres. One batch.
How it was made
Nothing here was rushed:
- Roasted in an earthen pit over wood fire, for days, until the agave turned dark and sweet.
- Fermented in the open air, on wild yeast — no shortcuts, no additives.
- Distilled twice in copper stills sealed with local barro clay, the final run finished on November 23rd.
- Bottled into 1,250 numbered bottles. Espadín Joven, 51.3% ABV, 100% agave.
The result has a bold nose and flavour that still manages to feel gentle: ripe fruit, cinnamon, a soft smoke, a finish of roasted plantain.
Why you can't simply buy it
The batch is finished. There will never be another Día de los Muertos 2022 — that's what single batch means. Rather than sell the last of it on demand, we hold it in reserve and release by allocation, so each bottle finds the right hands.
You can read the full story of this batch, and if it speaks to you, join the reserve list. When a bottle is meant for you, we'll be in touch.
Chulele Día de los Muertos 2022 — single batch, 1,250 bottles, Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca.