Ocho Sientos Sotol Anejo (750mL)

Handcrafted in the town of Janos in Chihuahua, Mexico, by fifth and sixth generation vinateros (Sotol producers), Celso and Jacob Jacquez. Jacquez is the first distiller to obtain a permit to export Sotol to the United States. This distillate, the native spirit of Chihuahua, is made from the fermentable sugars of the sotol, or “desert spoon”, found in northern Mexico. Sotol has its own Denomination of Origin and can be produced in the Northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango.

Jacquez harvests wild sotol in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at the height of maturity, when they are 7-12 years old. Back at the vinata (distillery), the sotol heads are placed into a 7x6 foot traditional stone oven heated with mesquite, oak, cottonwood and volcanic rock. The oven is surfaced with palm leaves and clay soil and the sotol plants are cooked for three days. After cooling, the cooked sotol plants are placed on a table and hand-mashed with an ax. The smashed sotol is placed into 1000 liter pine vats and allowed to ferment with wild, ambient yeast and purified water for 6 to 8 days, depending on time of year and temperature. The fermented sotol is then added to the 92 gallon copper pot still where they are distilled twice, to proof. After a resting period, the Sotol is lightly filtered and bottled.

The sotol plant has been used by the Apache, Tarahumara, and Paquime Indians for millennia, providing food and fiber for clothing. Carbon dating in Chihuahua’s caves has disclosed the use of Sotol, as a fermented beverage, dating back 800 years. The name—Ocho Cientos (800 years)—acknowledges this history.

It all begins in the timeless soil, where the mysterious agaves grow in Oaxaca and Jalisco, Mexico, yielding their legendary mezcals and tequilas... or the blessed volcanic soils of the Amalfi Coast, in southern Italy, where the sensous citrus orchards bloom... or the micro-climate soils of Veracruz, Mexico- home to the earliest sugar cane fields, first cultivated in 1535, and touchstone to 20-year old rums and fabulous shade-grown arabica coffees. The soil is also the craddle to the organically grown grapes, the essence of Peruvian Pisco, a grape brandy distillate, cultivated near the Andes Mountains.