A M A N D O A L V A R E Z

amando alvarez distills aGAVE

Papalometl (A. Potatorum) as a way to preserve the tradition of his isolated town, Santa María Ixcatlan, Oaxaca. After spending most of his childhood at his father's palenque, Amando distilled his first batch as a 15-year old.  He learned how to harvest ripe wild and cultivated agave with a machete, cook it in an earthen oven, mash it by hand with a wooden mallet, ferment it in rawhides and double-distill it in small clay pots from his father, also named Amando. Despite his young age, Amando is one of only a dozen distillers who maintain the centuries-old practice of fermenting in rawhide and distilling in clay.

Amando recently launched his own brand, Ixcateco. Though you may continue to find this Papalometl bottled by Cinco Sentidos, any future batches will be released under a new brand that is proudly produced by the hands that own it.

Amando also provides his spirits to La Fundación para la Reserva de la Biosfera Cuicatlán, a foundation that Amando collaborates with to protect the biodiversity of the biosphere, reforest endemic species of agave, and work towards a sustainable future.