Tosba Tobala Mezcal

The Queen of the Agave Spirits.

Deep in the Oaxaca state, in the center of the Sierra Norte region, there's a tiny town called San Cristóbal Lachirioag (which, admittedly sounds slightly Scottish) and that's where the Mezcalero Elisandro Gonzales-Molina decided to create a young and clear Mezcal from the King of Agavas, the wild Tobala. It grows at high altitudes, it's small, and it takes almost 15 years to fully grow.

So why bother? because this rare plant also gives extremely limited batches of intensely aromatic Mezcal. But don't worry, they don't overharvest it as they have nurseries reproducing and cultivating the Tobala Agave.

The men behind the Tosba Mezcal Distillery are two cousins from the said village who live in Silicon Valley. But right before we all got scared by the Y2K and then forgot about it in a few days, they noticed an increase in the migration from their home region. So the created a microbusiness to bring economic opportunity back to the area. They cultivate plants sustainably and distill the Spirits the old-fashioned way, the way their "abuelos" did it. This kind of stories bring tears of hapiness to Uncle Flaviar's eyes!