Mezcal Cuentacuentos Arroqueno (Angel Cruz Robles) 750ml

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. The Cuentacuentos motto is Mezcal brings people together, stories make us friends.

Mezcalero Ángel Cruz Robles and his family have been tending their field of maguey Arroqueño (agave Americana) for the better part of the last two decades. The Arroqueño plants used in this batch of mezcal are the first of his harvest; these 15+ year-old plants are characterized by their “dry espadin” flavor and produced in the ancestral style in Sola de Vega, Oaxaca. Robles uses a wooden mallet to crush his cooked agaves by hand and distills them in clay pot stills. This mezcal has a deep minerality that is a result of the long-growing agaves.